Professor with work visa deported from US over photos on phone
A Brown University assistant professor and physician was deported to Lebanon on Thursday after federal agents found photos of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran's supreme leader on her cellphone, the CNN a source familiar with the matter.
Photo: Boston Airport © Jiawangkun | Dreamstime.com
We are talking about the deportation of a doctor from Lebanon wrote March 17: After Dr. Rasha Alavi returned to the United States from a trip to her homeland, federal agents searched her phone at Logan International Airport in Boston on March 13 and found seditious photos on it. It is unclear why the agents were looking at the gadget.
The existence of the photographs is described in a court document filed on March 17. "In explaining why these photographs were deleted one or two days before arriving at Logan Airport, Dr. Alavi stated that she did not want the authorities to perceive this as political or military support for Hezbollah and the Ayatollah," the document says.
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“I think if you listen to one of his sermons, you’ll understand what I mean,” Alavi reportedly told the agents. “He’s a religious, spiritual man. He’s very respected. His sermons are about spirituality and morality.”
Alavi, 34, told federal agents that during her trip she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Feb. 23, a public event that drew thousands of people.
“Our client is in Lebanon, and we will not stop fighting to bring her back to the United States so she can see her patients again and ensure that the government follows the law,” Stephanie Marzouk, an attorney representing the Alavi family in the federal deportation lawsuit, told reporters outside a Boston court on March 17.
Allawi described Nasrallah, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last September, as a respected religious leader. She told officers that she adhered to his religious and spiritual teachings but did not share the late Hezbollah leader's political views.
The Lebanese woman admitted to immigration officials that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. The group, which enjoys widespread support among Shiites in the Middle East, is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and many other Western countries.
"Last month, Rasha Allawi traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the brutal terrorist leader of Hezbollah and responsible for the murder of hundreds of Americans over four decades of attacks," a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said.
"A visa is a privilege, not a right. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for denial of this permit. These are basic security measures," he said.
The US State Department wrote on its Facebook page: "Screening of US visa holders does not stop once they are issued. We continually check holders of these permits to ensure they are complying with all US immigration laws and regulations - if they do not, we will revoke their visas and deport them."
In a separate statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection noted that foreign nationals arriving in the United States on a visa do not have guaranteed entry; the final decision on whether to allow them into the country rests with border officers after security screening.
"Foreign nationals who promote extremist ideologies or spread terrorist propaganda cannot be admitted to the United States, that is absolutely clear," Customs and Border Protection spokesman Hilton Beckham told CNN on March 17.
The U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts, which is representing the Trump administration in court, declined to comment.
Allawi's deportation comes amid White House efforts to tighten border controls and increase immigration arrests. It comes less than a week after Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian protest organizer Mahmoud Khalil was detained and his deportation stayed by a judge.
Over the weekend, the Trump administration deported hundreds of immigrants believed to be linked to criminal gangs, despite a judge’s order blocking their removals. The White House said the judge’s order came after most of those deported, mostly from Venezuela, had already left the U.S.
Alavi's deportation hearing was abruptly canceled on the morning of March 17 by a federal judge who had previously ordered immigration officials to notify him before removing the Lebanese woman.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, an Obama appointee, oversaw the case on a complaint alleging that Alavi was not provided access to legal counsel while in detention. The complaint was filed on Alavi's behalf by her cousin, Yara Shehab.
In a ruling issued shortly before the March 17 hearing, Sorokin cited testimony that Logan Airport officials had not received notice of the court order from their lawyers before Dr. Alavi left the United States. He said, “Customs and Border Protection takes court orders seriously and will comply with them at all times.”
On March 14, Sorokin ruled that Alavi "shall not be removed from the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours' notice to the court." He explained that this was necessary "to give the court time to consider the matter."
Sorokin said he was postponing the hearing until later this month at the request of Shehab's lawyer after other lawyers representing her withdrew from the case "as a result of further review of the circumstances." The lawyers who withdrew from the case did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.
Alavi, a Lebanese citizen living in Rhode Island, was approved for an H-1B visa last year to work in the nephrology department at Brown University Medical School after training at three U.S. universities since 2018, the federal complaint says.
It says Alavi traveled to Lebanon in February for what was expected to be a short trip, but was delayed while trying to obtain documents from the US consulate in Beirut.
Her papers were approved on March 11, but when Alavi arrived at Boston airport two days later, she was immediately detained and told she would be sent back to Lebanon the next day.
Customs and Border Protection "refused to provide any information regarding the reasons for the detention and expedited deportation," the original complaint said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said on March 17 that Allawi had been "unjustly deported."
Commenting on the claims that the Lebanese woman attended Nasrallah's funeral, the council's deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said: "We have not yet seen these documents or any evidence to support this belated claim, but we would first like to hear from her immigration lawyer."
“Deporting lawful immigrants like Dr. Alavi without justification undermines the rule of law and reinforces suspicions that our immigration system is becoming an anti-Muslim white institution bent on expelling and denying entry to as many Muslims and people of color as possible,” the council said Sunday.
Rhode Island Democratic Congressman Gabe Amo remains "committed to getting answers" from the Department of Homeland Security regarding Alavi's status, he said Sunday on Platform X.
On the evening of March 17, supporters gathered outside the Rhode Island State House in Providence to demand that Brown University do everything possible to bring Alavi back to the United States. The rally participants expressed concern about the Trump administration's recent immigration policies.
“I worry about my travel if I decide to visit my family,” said Dani Khalife, a green card holder and first-generation Lebanese-Palestinian living in the United States with his wife and son.
He believes the administration's immigration policies could be "weaponized" against US citizens who hold dual citizenship.
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In a statement issued Monday, March 17, a Brown University spokesman said the school would investigate the circumstances of the incident.
"We are trying to learn more about what happened, but we must be careful about publicly discussing anyone's personal circumstances," university spokesman Brian Clark said on March 17.
On March 16, the university sent out an email with recommendations for those planning international travel.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we encourage international students, staff, faculty, and scholars, including U.S. visa holders and permanent residents (green card holders), to consider postponing or canceling personal travel outside the United States until further information is received from the Department of State,” the advisory says.
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