A foreign exchange student studying at Georgetown University was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday over allegations that he spread Hamas propaganda online.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and doctoral student in the U.S. on a student visa, was accused of “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said in a statement.
“Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,” the DHS statement continued. DHS did not name the suspected terrorist or Hamas advisor.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined on March 15 that Suri’s activities and presence in the U.S. “rendered him deportable” under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the senior official said.
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The act is a rarely-used legal statute that gives Rubio sweeping power to deport those who pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
Rubio has cited the same statute as grounds for the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by federal immigration authorities earlier this month. A judge has said Khalil can challenge his detention.
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Suri was duly granted a visa to enter the U.S. to perform doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Georgetown University spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News.
“We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” the university spokesperson said.
Suri, who is married to an American citizen, was detained in Alexandria, Louisiana, and is awaiting a court date in immigration court, his lawyer told Reuters.
