Awaiting a May 1 hearing in Virginia, lawyers for detained Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri and attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have exchanged several motions regarding jurisdiction and Khan Suri’s detention.

Federal immigration agents detained Khan Suri, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), March 17. As of April 11, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) online locator shows Khan Suri is in a detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, where a hearing in immigration court is scheduled for May 6.

The U.S. Department of State revoked Khan Suri’s J-1 visa, a non-immigrant visa for foreign nationals to participate in educational programs, March 15. The federal government alleges Khan Suri is connected to Hamas leadership because his father-in-law was an adviser to Hamas officials over a decade ago. Khan Suri also allegedly posted “Hamas propaganda” on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.

Khan Suri’s lawyers, including lawyers from the legal advocacy nonprofit American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), filed a motion to return Khan Suri to Virginia March 20, arguing his March 18 transfer to an ICE facility in Alexandria, La., and his March 21 transfer to the Texas facility prevented him from accessing counsel and due judicial process. 

In an April 8 press release, Mary Bauer, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said the detention of pro-Palestine activists — including Khan Suri and Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. permanent resident and prominent activist during pro-Palestine student protests at Columbia University last spring — is illegal.

“The Trump administration is trying to silence speech it doesn’t agree with by targeting people like Dr. Khan Suri and Mahmoud Khalil, but ideas are not illegal,” Bauer said in the press release. “Americans don’t want to live in a country where the federal government ‘disappears’ people whose views it doesn’t like.”

The ACLU has joined the legal teams of several visa holders whom the government has detained over their speech and protest attendance. ACLU lawyers also joined the representation of Khalil, whom ICE detained March 8. 

ACLU lawyers submitted a memo March 27 calling for Khan Suri to be released on bond, saying Khan Suri’s detention has harmed his family, prevented him from accessing legal aid and interfered with his Muslim faith.

“As a result of the federal government’s actions, Dr. Khan Suri has lost his freedom, his ability to practice his deeply held religious beliefs, his ability to have meaningful access to his legal counsel and this Court, his professional credibility, reputation, and employment opportunities, and perhaps most deeply personal of all, he is experiencing the ongoing separation from his wife and three young children,” the lawyers wrote in the filing.

In response, DOJ lawyers filed two motions April 1, one dismissing Khan Suri’s challenge to his transfer to Texas and the other opposing Khan Suri’s return to Virginia. Both motions argue the Virginia federal court lacks jurisdiction over Khan Suri’s case. 

The government also filed a motion opposing Khan Suri’s release on bond April 3. 

In the filings, DOJ attorneys also refuted assertions of forum shopping, where prosecutors choose a more favorable court, saying Khan Suri was transferred to Texas due to space concerns, not because Texas’ more conservative judges might have a higher chance of ruling in favor of the government.

Khan Suri’s lawyers filed an amended complaint April 8, also publishing a video of Khan Suri’s arrest and adding details of Khan Suri’s experience in the Texas detention center. 

The filings outline that Khan Suri was originally housed in a common room, sleeping on a plastic frame and mattress. According to the complaint, Khan Suri did not receive halal food or religious accommodations, including a Quran and prayer mat, until April 2, when he was also given a room after complaining to his lawyer.

The filing said Khan Suri’s family has been devastated by his detention.

“His children keep asking their mother when their father will come home,” the lawyers wrote in the amended complaint. “Dr. Khan Suri normally holds his older son every night at bedtime, helping him fall asleep. Lately, his son has been crying uncontrollably and has stopped speaking. He is worried especially about his older son.”

Khan Suri’s lawyers also said he is not a risk, highlighting his devotion to his family and work in peace studies, in April 8 filings seeking to return him to Virginia and release him on bond.

“It is uncontested that Petitioner Badar Khan Suri is neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community,” the lawyers wrote in the filing regarding releasing Khan Suri on bond. “The evidence presented in this case thus far — core bail factors which Respondents do not challenge in their opposition to his release — demonstrate that Dr. Khan Suri is a legal visitor to this country on a visiting scholar visa with no criminal record; a loving and devoted husband to his U.S. citizen wife and father to his three small children; a kind, thoughtful, and considerate colleague and friend; and an academic dedicated to ending wars and finding just and peaceful solutions to conflicts.”

Khan Suri said in the ACLU press release that he never expected to be detained for his speech.

“I’ve never even been to a protest,” Khan Suri wrote. “I came to the U.S. to work and raise my family: I go to work, come home late, and still they came and took me and broke my family. In my work, I’ve seen lots of injustice. I just didn’t think it would happen to me here.”