'Made a sub-human out of me, it was Kafkaesque': Badar Khan Suri shares US detention ordeal

Badar Khan Suri was released from immigration detention after a court order. (Image: X)

Indian-origin researcher at Georgetown University, Badar Khan Suri, was released from federal custody after nearly two months of detention in a US immigration facility in Texas, following a court order issued Wednesday by US District Judge Patricia Giles.

He had been detained for nearly two months after being arrested by federal agents outside his home in Arlington, Virginia, on March 17. Suri was accused of having ties with Hamas, a Palestinian group designated as a terrorist organisation by the US. President Donald Trump administration revoked his student visa, citing his wife’s familial connections to Gaza, and accused him of supporting Hamas through social media activity.

US District Judge Patricia Giles, ruling from Alexandria, Virginia, ordered his immediate release on Wednesday and authorised his return to his family on personal recognisance.

After his release from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, Suri shared his ordeal and said that he was chained everywhere - wrist, ankles, body. For the first 7-8 days, he even missed his shadow.

"There was no charge, there was nothing. They made a sub-human out of me," NBC News quoted Suri as saying.

He said, "It was Kafkaesque, where they were taking me, what they were doing to me. I was chained — my ankles, my wrist, my body. Everything was chained.”

Suri also described unsanitary conditions inside the facility and a lack of response from officials. “The facilities were unhygienic, and I tried to raise concerns with the ombudsman, but I never got a reply,” he said.

Separated from his family, Suri said his primary concern was the emotional toll on his three young children. “My eldest son is only nine, and my twins are only five. My nine-year-old knows where I am. He was going through very rough times,” Suri said, reported NBC News.

At last, Suri expressed optimism, saying, “It took two months, but I’m extremely thankful that finally I’m free.”

His wife, Mapheze Saleh, expressed profound relief after the judge's ruling. “I truly wish I could give her [the judge] a heartfelt hug from me and from my three children, who long every day to see their father again,” she said in a statement cited by news agency AP.

Immigration authorities have detained college students from across the country — many of whom participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war — since the first days of the Trump administration. Khan Suri is the latest to win release from custody, along with Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student from Turkey, and Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University.

Hassan Ahmad, Suri's lawyer, said in his petition that he was "being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife, and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose US foreign policy toward Israel", according to Politico.