A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the immediate release of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University who was arrested in March, after two months of detention in an immigration facility in Texas.
Ruling from the bench, Judge Patricia Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia said the government had declined every opportunity to provide evidence detailing why Suri, an Indian national, should be detained. She also said it had not identified any past statements he had made that represented a threat to US interests, as the government had claimed, according to a report by the New York Times.
The student was arrested in the Trump administration's crackdown on foreign college students.
Badar Khan Suri will go home to his family in Virginia while he awaits the outcome of his petition against the Trump administration for wrongful arrest and detention in violation of the First Amendment and other constitutional rights. He's also facing deportation proceedings in an immigration court in Texas, AP reported.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Suri told reporters after his release from a detention facility in Alvarado, near Dallas. “It took two months, but I'm extremely thankful that finally I'm free.”
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.
The judge said she was releasing Khan Suri because she felt he had substantial constitutional claims against the Trump administration. She also considered the needs of his family and said she didn't believe he was 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.” The judge added: “The First Amendment does not distinguish between citizens and noncitizens.” March arrest in Virginia Khan Suri was arrested by masked, plain-clothed officers on the evening of March 17 outside his apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia. He was then put on a plane to Louisiana and later to a detention center in Texas.
The Trump administration has said that it revoked Badar Khan Suri's visa because of his social media posts and his wife's connection to Gaza as a Palestinian American. They accused him of supporting Hamas, which the US has designated as a terrorist organization.
Khan Suri and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, have been targeted because Saleh's father worked with the Hamas-backed Gazan government for more than a decade, but before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Khan Suri's attorneys say.
According to the U.S. government, Khan Suri has undisputed family ties to the terrorist organization, which he “euphemistically refers to as the government of Gaza.'” But the American Civil Liberties Union has said that Khan Suri hardly knew the father, Ahmed Yousef.
Giles acknowledged the Trump administration's need to prioritize national security but said that “whatever deference may be appropriate, concerns of national security” do not supersede the judiciary.
David Byerley, a Justice Department attorney, had argued against Khan Suri's release. He told the judge that Khan Suri's First Amendment case is inextricably intertwined with the deportation case in Texas, so he should stay there.
After the court hearing, Khan Suri's lawyers declared victory and criticized the Trump administration for “disappearing” people over their ideas.
“He should have never had his First Amendment rights, which protect all of us regardless of citizenship, trampled on because ideas are not illegal,” said Sophia Gregg, an ACLU attorney. “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.” Extremely happy' to be released Khan Suri, an Indian citizen, came to the U.S. in 2022 through a J-1 visa, working at Georgetown as a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow. He and his wife have three children: a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old twins.
Before his arrest, he taught a course on majority and minority human rights in South Asia, according to court records. The filings said he hoped to become a professor and embark on a career in academia.
After his release, Khan Suri told reporters that he's studied conflict around the world and has sympathies for Jews and Arabs. He also thanked Jewish people and rabbis who came out in support of him.
He described his arrest as “Kafkaesque.” “They said, Hey, are you, Badar? You're under arrest.' I said, For what?' They said, We will tell you later,'" he recalled. "And that thing never happened. They never said what wrong I did. My only wrong maybe is that I married a Palestinian girl, who is an American citizen, by the way.” “They made a subhuman out of me,” he added. "They took me from one centre to another, not letting my family know, not letting me know that I have attorneys.” He said he's “extremely happy” to be out but “I feel bad for the students who are still inside.”
(With inputs from AP)
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