Georgetown University scholar released from immigration detention center after federal court ruling

A Georgetown University scholar and India national has been released from an immigration detention center in Texas following an order from a federal court.

Badar Khan Suri, a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow in the U.S. on a J-1 student visa, was released Wednesday from the Texas immigration detention center so that he can return to his family in Virginia, according to the Associated Press.

He is facing deportation proceedings in a Texas immigration court and awaiting the outcome of his petition against the Trump administration for wrongful arrest and detention in violation of the First Amendment and other constitutional rights.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Khan Suri told reporters following his release from the Alvarado, Texas, detention facility. “It took two months, but I’m extremely thankful that finally I’m free.”

He was arrested in March, outside his home in Arlington, Virginia, and for allegedly spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin at the time Khan Suri also had "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas."

He was released as a result of a ruling by U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, saying he appears to have substantial constitutional claims against the Trump administration and that his family needed him and that he wasn't a danger to the community.

“Speech regarding the conflict there and opposing Israel’s military campaign is likely protected political speech,” Giles said. “And thus he was likely engaging in protected speech.”

Khan Suri's visa was revoked by the Trump administration because of his social media posts and his wife's familial connection to Hamas. 

Mapheze Saleh, Khan Suri's wife, is a Palestinian-American and her father worked with the Hamas government in Gaza for more than a decade, but before the terrorist organization attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Khan Suri's lawyers.

The American Civil Liberties Union has said that Khan Suri hardly knew his father-in-law.

“He should have never had his First Amendment rights, which protect all of us regardless of citizenship, trampled on because ideas are not illegal,” ACLU attorney Sophia Gregg said. “Americans don’t want to live in a country where the federal government disappears people whose views it doesn’t like. If they can do this to Dr. Suri, they can do this to anyone.”