By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-20 05:11:49 | Updated at 2025-03-20 20:05:14
15 hours ago
A university student and part time professor is facing deportation over his alleged links to Hamas amid President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and postdoctoral student at Georgetown University, was taken into custody by masked ICE agents outside of his home in Rosslyn, Virginia on Monday night.
Suri's attorney Hassan Ahmad has filed a petition in federal court in Virginia on Tuesday calling for his release, likening the case to that of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, Politico reports.
He claimed his client is only being targeted because his wife is a Palestinian, noting they have 'long been doxxed and smeared' for their support of Palestinian rights.
The Department of Homeland Security, however, alleges Suri been involved in 'actively spreading Hamas propaganda' and 'promoting antisemitism'.
His wife, Mapheze Ahmad Yousef Saleh, is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef who was an advisor to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, according to Campus Watch.
'Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,' a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News.
'Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and postdoctoral student at Georgetown University, was taken into custody outside of his home in Rosslyn, Virginia on Monday night
Suri's wife, Mapheze Ahmad Yousef Saleh, (right) is the daughter of longtime Hamas leader Ahmed Yousef (left) - who served as a senior Hamas official in Gaza and was an advisor to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
'The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i).'
Suri endorsed Hamas online even though his Georgetown bio says he focuses his studies on the 'peace process in the Middle East.'
In one now-deleted post, he reportedly denied reports of the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
'Three lies by Israeli occupation, no proof whatsoever of babies beheaded, rapes or mass killing at carnival,' the postdoctoral student, who also teaches a class on majority and minority rights in South Asia, wrote at the time, according to Campus Watch.
In another post from years ago, Suri reportedly expressed support for Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yasin.
He is said to have posted a video saying, 'This is what Hamas argues. Sheikh Yaseen giving the reasons why his group is fighting for their land which was stolen.'
Suri even reportedly posted a video showing Hamas terrorists holding Israeli child hostages, writing: 'This is how Hamas men deal with kids on Oct. 7.'
His wife, a US citizen, has also spoken out on social media about her support for the terrorist group, and spoke about her role in Hamas' government.
Mapheze, a US citizen, reportedly expressed her hatred for her adopted company, declaring in Arabic on Instagram: 'America is the plague'
She told Arabic-language media that she served with the terror group's Committee to Break the Siege in Gaza - which happened to be chaired by her father, the National Review reports.
At one point, she even reportedly expressed her hatred for her adopted company, declaring in Arabic on Instagram: 'America is the plague.'
On Monday, agents informed Suri they were with the Department of Homeland Security, and told him that his student visa has been revoked, a petition for his release claims.
It says Suri was put in deportation proceedings under the same provision of immigration law that the Trump administration invoked to try to deport Khalil.
The provision gives the Secretary of State the power to deport noncitizens if he or she determines that their continued presence in the United States would threaten foreign policy - though Suri has not been charged with a crime in the United States.
Following his arrest on Monday, Suri was taken to a facility in Virginia and is expected to be transferred soon to a detention center in Texas.
As of Wednesday night, an online locator for immigration detainees showed he was at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement staging center at an airport in Alexandria, Louisiana, Politico reports.
His lawyer Hassan Ahmad said he has not been able to contact his client since he was detained, and said he is now unsure whether he will have to refile Suri's petition for release in Louisiana.
Ahmad told Politico he is prepared 'to do whatever we can to release our client from detention and afford him due process.'
Suri teaches a class on majority and minority rights in South Asia at the Washington DC school (pictured)
He then went on to hit out at the Trump administration for Suri's arrest.
'This is just another example of our government abducting people the same way they abducted Khalil,' Ahmad argued.
Khalil's case has become a flashpoint for Trump's pledge to deport activists who participated in the wave of protests on US college campuses against Israel's military assault on Gaza.
The Trump administration has argued pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses have included support for Hamas and anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students.
But Khalil's supporters say his arrest is an attack on free speech, and have been staging protests in the city and across the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though, has fired back at critics of Khalil's arrest, saying that it is 'not about free speech.'
'When you come to the United States as a visitor, which is what a visa is, which is how this individual entered this country, on a visitor's visa, you are here as a visitor. We can deny you that visa,' the U.S. top diplomat argued.
If someone said they intended to come to the U.S. as a student 'and rile up all kinds of anti-Jewish student, anti-Semitic activities' and shut down universities, they would be denied the visa, Rubio said.
He added: 'If you actually end up doing that once you're in this country on such a visa, we will revoke it.'
'This is not about free speech. This is about people who don't have the right to be in the United States to begin with,' the secretary of state said.
'No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card,' Rubio added.
He said the U.S. can deny one for 'virtually any reason.'
Suri has reportedly endorsed Hamas online even though his Georgetown bio says he focuses his studies on the 'peace process in the Middle East'
That included 'being a supporter of Hamas and coming into our universities and turning them upside down, and being complicit in what are clearly crimes of vandalization, complicit in shutting down learning institutions.'
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Georgetown University said it was not aware of Suri engaging in illegal activity.
'Dr. Khan Suri is an Indian national who was duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan.
'We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention.
'We support our community members' rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.'
