An effort to silence those who don’t agree with the Trump administration is being challenged in court after a Georgetown professor was arrested, shackled and detained last month.
An amended complaint was filed this week on behalf of Dr. Badar Kahn Suri in Khan Suri v. Trump challenging his arrest and naming President Donald Trump, ICE Director Russell Hott, Ice Acting Director Todd Lyons, Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Justice Attorney General Pamela Bondi, among others, in the complaint.
“Americans don’t want to live in a country where the federal government ‘disappears’ people whose views it doesn’t like,” said Mary Bauer, ACLU of Virginia executive director. “The First Amendment protects all of us – regardless of citizenship – from being punished by the government for our political speech.”
New details on Suri’s arrest released
On Tuesday, the ACLU of Virginia, the Center for Constitutional Rights, HMA Law and the Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic at CUNY School of Law released new details surrounding Suri’s arrest.
A video from March 17 shows Suri was confronted by masked federal agents and handcuffed in front of his wife and put in an unmarked vehicle with officers who claimed to be with Homeland Security.
He was taken to the Washington ICE office where he was told that someone at a very high level “does not want you here” and that his visa had been revoked. He was told he was going to be deported to his country “today.”
In the four days that followed, Suri, a J-1 visa holder, was shackled at the hands, waist and ankles, and transferred to five different ICE facilities across three states, eventually landing in Texas. For almost two weeks, he was housed in a common room without a bed or pillow and was not permitted to work or spend more than two hours per week outside.
He remains in ICE custody more than 1,300 miles away from his Rosslyn home.
Right-wing websites launched a smear campaign against Suri, his wife
In the weeks before his arrest, right-wing websites targeted Suri and his wife for past speeches and social media posts in support of Palestinian rights.
Suri is a scholar of religion and peace at Georgetown University. An Indian national, he lives with his wife and three children in Northern Virginia. He has a master’s degree in peace and conflict studies from Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, India. He completed a Ph.D. in the same subject matter at the Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict resolution at the same university.
In 2011, while in his master’s program, Suri traveled with a group of students to Gaza as part of a humanitarian aid convoy. While there, he met his future wife, Mapheze Saleh, who was volunteering as a translator for foreign delegations.
Saleh is a U.S. citizen of Palestinian descent who was born in Missouri. Her father, Ahmed Yousef, previously worked as a political advisor to the prime minister of Gaza and as a deputy foreign minister in Gaza. Suri occasionally spoke with his father-in-law by phone, about family matters and academic pursuits, according to the complaint, but has not spoken directly to him in more than a year.
The couple made a handful of comments on social media expressing support for the Palestinian people and criticized both the death toll in Gaza and the U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
“I’ve never even been to a protest. 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,” said Suri.
“In my work, I’ve seen lots of injustice. I just didn’t think it would happen to me here.”
After Suri’s detainment, the Trump administration posted on X that Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” according to the complaint.
For now, a federal judge has ruled that Suri cannot be removed from the country while his case is being considered. Four motions, including one for Suri to be transferred back to Virginia and another seeking his release on bond, will be heard in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on May 1.
Attorney’s warning: ‘They can do this to any of us’
A staff attorney for the Center for Constitution Rights said there is a clear pattern from the Trump administration targeting noncitizens like Mahmoud Khalil and Dr. Badar Khan Suri for deportation.
“The Trump administration is trying to send a message that if you disagree with the U.S. government, you’ll be punished,” said Astha Sharma Pokharel.
If the administration gets its way, the so-called “enemy from within” as Trump calls them – researchers, journalists, professors, judges and political opponents – could be subject to government force, prosecution, prison, or perhaps something worse.
Kamala Harris, Liz Cheney, Letitia James, Barack Obama, members of the U.S. Capitol Police and Mark Milley are among those who Trump believes should be prosecuted as part of what is being called a “revenge presidency.”
“Noncitizens have every right to express political ideas, including support for Palestinian rights. And no one should be targeted for who they’ve married,” said Pokharel.
“If they can do this to Dr. Khan Suri or Mahmoud Khalil, they can do this to any of us.”
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Crystal Graham
