Georgetown University student released from immigration detention after
federal judge's ruling
[May 15, 2025]
By OLIVIA DIAZ, KENDRIA LaFLEUR and BEN FINLEY
ALVARADO, Texas (AP) — A Georgetown University scholar from India who
was arrested in the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign college
students was released from immigration detention Wednesday after a
federal judge's ruling.
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 is also facing deportation proceedings
in an immigration court in Texas.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Khan 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.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Virginia,
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 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
U.S. 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 Oct. 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.
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Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University scholar from India, speaks
after he was released from immigration detention facility Wednesday,
May 14, 2025, in Alvarado, Texas. (AP Photo/Kendria LaFleur)
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 has 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
center 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.”
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