Postdoctoral researcher Badar Khan Suri accused of ‘spreading Hamas propaganda and selling antisemitism’.
An Indian postdoctoral researcher in the USA who has spoken out in opposition to Israel’s conflict in Gaza is going through deportation after being detained beneath US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown College in Washington, DC, was designated for deportation for “spreading Hamas propaganda and selling antisemitism” on social media, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary on the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), stated on Wednesday.
“Suri has shut connections to a identified or suspected terrorist, who’s a senior advisor to Hamas,” McLaughlin stated on X.
“The Secretary of State issued a dedication on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s actions and presence in the USA rendered him deportable beneath INA part 237(a)(4)(C)(i).”
McLaughlin didn’t present proof for her declare of ties between Suri and Hamas, the group that governs Gaza.
Suri, who was finding out at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Heart for Muslim-Christian Understanding, is at present being held at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention facility at Alexandria worldwide airport in Louisiana, in accordance with ICE’s on-line detention locator.
Ahmad Hassan, a lawyer representing Suri, on Wednesday filed a petition for the researcher’s launch on the US District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in accordance with a court docket submitting on-line.
Hassan didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Al Jazeera.
In an announcement to Al Jazeera, a spokesperson for Georgetown College stated that Suri had been granted a pupil visa to hold out “doctoral analysis on peace-building in Iraq and Afghanistan”.
“We aren’t conscious of him participating in any criminality, and we now have not acquired a purpose for his detention,” the spokesperson stated.
“We assist our neighborhood members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even when the underlying concepts could also be tough, controversial or objectionable. We count on the authorized system to adjudicate this case pretty.”
An X account utilizing Suri’s identify and Georgetown affiliation comprises a lot of criticisms of Israel and expressions of assist for the Palestinian trigger.
In a publish in June, the account accused India of being “an enabler of genocide” after the Palestinian-run Quds Information Community posted footage purporting to indicate the remnants of an Israeli missile labelled “Made in India”.
“From being an ally of Palestinians, to enabler of a genocide. What a shame for Made in India, to provide missiles to Israel in order that Palestinian youngsters might be butchered,” Suri stated.
“Change of values for blood cash. Disgrace.”
In an October 2023 publish, the account bearing Suri’s identify stated many Indians supported Israel for the “hate of Muslims”, not “for the love of Israel”.
Suri’s detention comes lower than two weeks after Trump’s DHS arrested Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil over his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests.
On Wednesday, a federal court docket dominated that Khalil, a everlasting US resident, may proceed with a authorized problem in opposition to the Trump administration’s order for his deportation.
Choose Jesse Furman dominated that Khalil’s argument that his removing would violate his free speech and due course of rights beneath the US Structure warranted “cautious assessment”.
