The crackdown on immigrant students comes as Donald Trump aims to deport foreign students who were involved in pro-Palestinian protests across university campuses in US against Israel’s genocide in Gaza after the Hamas attack in October 2023.

Groundxero | March 20, 2025

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and postdoctoral research scholar at Georgetown University in Washington DC, has been detained by the US immigration authorities and is facing potential deportation. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking Suri’s deportation due to concerns over US foreign policy. Badar, a former student of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, who holds a student visa and is married to an American citizen was whisked away from outside his home in Virginia on Monday night by masked agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and is currently lodged in a detention facility in Alexandria, Louisiana.

He has been accused by US immigration authorities for “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media.” The officials alleged that Suri maintained “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas.” According to a statement by the DHS, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio decided that Suri’s actions have “rendered him deportable.” In a statement to FOX news DHS said:

“Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas. The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i).”

The Georgetown University has released a statement upholding a student’s rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. The statement reads:

“Dr. Khan Suri is an Indian national who was duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peace building in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention. We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”

Suri’s lawyer claimed that he is being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife Mapheze Saleh, and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose US foreign policy toward Israel. Suri’s wife is originally from Gaza but is an American citizen now. The two got married on January 1, 2014 in Delhi. Sri’s father-in-law was a former deputy foreign minister in the Hamas government in Gaza and later went on to head the House of Wisdom Institute (HoW) for conflict resolution.

The crackdown on immigrant students comes as Trump aims to deport foreign students who were involved in pro-Palestinian protests across university campuses in US against Israel’s genocide in Gaza after the Hamas attack in October 2023.

Less than two weeks back the DHS has arrested Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil over his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests. In another instance, the US deported Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese doctor and assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school, after authorities found what they called “sympathetic photos and videos” of Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah, in her mobile device.

Suri’s detention follows the self-deportation of another Indian student, Ranjani Srinivasan at Columbia, whose visa was revoked for allegedly advocating terrorism, and supporting Hamas activities.  On March 11, Srinivasan chose to “self deport” fearing arrest by the ICE.