Legislators and legal advocates condemned federal immigration agents’ detention of Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University researcher, as a violation of his constitutional rights.
Agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detained Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) living legally in the United States with a research visa, March 17. According to spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, DHS detained Khan Suri over alleged connections to Hamas leadership and social media posts described as “Hamas propaganda.”
A petition Khan Suri’s lawyer filed March 18 claims he was detained because he is married to U.S. citizen Mapheze Saleh (GRD ’26), whose father, Ahmed Yousef, served as an official in Gaza’s Hamas-run government before leaving his position more than a decade ago. The petition alleges his detention violates the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), the congressman whose Arlington-based district includes Khan Suri and Saleh’s home in Rosslyn, Va., said in a press release that Khan Suri’s detention violated his constitutional right to due process of law and called for his release.
“Mr. Suri is here lawfully and is not accused of a crime, yet he was surrounded outside the Northern Virginia home where he lives with his wife — an American citizen — and their children, arrested by masked authorities without explanation, disappeared, imprisoned, denied access to legal counsel, and had his student visa revoked,” Beyer wrote in the press release.
Beyer said Khan Suri’s detention was representative of broader efforts by the administration of President Donald Trump to curtail pro-Palestinian political speech, citing the March 8 detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident and pro-Palestinian activist at Columbia University.
“Mr. Suri and his family are unfortunately the latest victim of President Trump’s assault on the freedom of speech,” Beyer wrote. “Trump has made no effort to disguise the fact that the arrests of academics like Suri and Mahmoud Khalil is intended to have a chilling effect and discourage the free expression of political views which Trump dislikes.”
Sophia Gregg, senior immigrants’ rights attorney for the legal nonprofit American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia, said Khan Suri’s detention was a politically motivated move against anti-Trump speech.
“Ripping someone from their home and family, stripping them of their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence dissent,” Gregg wrote in an ACLU announcement.
The ACLU of Virginia filed an emergency motion March 20 with the Eastern District of Virginia Federal Court, the court overseeing Khan Suri’s case. The motion asks the court to bar Khan Suri’s deportation while his case is pending and immediately release him.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered March 20 that Khan Suri may not be deported while his lawsuit is pending. DHS moved Khan Suri to a detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, March 22.
Vishal Agraharkar, senior supervising attorney for the ACLU of Virginia, said the attempt to deport Khan Suri is an unconstitutional response to his speech online.
“Similar to what’s happening to Mahmoud Khalil, Dr. Suri’s unlawful arrest and detention represent a frightening escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to silence speech of which they are critical,” Agrahakar wrote in the announcement. “Under the First Amendment, the federal government does not have the authority to deport individuals or revoke their residency on the basis of viewpoint alone.”
Ankit Jain, the U.S. shadow senator for the District of Columbia, said Khan Suri’s detainment highlights the consequences of federal government interference in District affairs, referencing the D.C. Federal Immigration Compliance Act, which would require D.C. to aid DHS in detaining individuals lacking legal residency.
“The detention of Mr. Suri provides a clear example of the dangers of the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act (H.R. 2056), which recently passed out of committee in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Jain wrote to The Hoya. “Our government would be forced not only to provide information and material support to deport undocumented immigrants, but also to comply with this administration’s attempts to strip status and deport legal immigrants.”
Beyer said the actions of the administration amounted to authoritarianism.
“While some will find false consolation in their own disagreements with the views expressed by those detained, the truth is that the horrifying precedent established by these cases may lead to the persecution of other individuals and groups with unforeseen consequences,” Beyer wrote.
Mary Bauer, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said the organization is committed to stemming the constitutional violation of free speech rights.
“Political speech — however controversial some may find it — may never be the basis for punishment, including deportation,” Bauer wrote. “We will not let this egregious, unprecedented, and illegal abuse of power go unchecked.”
