A Georgetown University scholar has been detained by immigration officials, prompting his lawyer to seek urgent relief in federal court.
Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown University, was accused of "spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media" and determined to be deportable by the Secretary of State's office, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said late Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Politico, which first reported the case, said that masked agents arrested Suri outside his home in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday night and told him his visa had been revoked, citing a legal filing by his lawyer.
His lawyer didn't immediately respond to an email seeking further information Wednesday night. An online court docket shows that an urgent motion seeking to halt the deportation proceedings was filed Tuesday against the Trump administration.
A Georgetown University webpage identifies Suri as a postdoctoral fellow at Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the university.
The U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement detainee locator website lists Suri as being in the custody of immigration officials at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana.