On Wednesday, May 14th, federal judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered the release of Badar Khan Suri, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Suri, an Indian citizen, had been detained by U.S. immigration authorities in March for his support of Palestine.
Judge Giles stated that the government failed to provide evidence that Suri posed a threat to the community and highlighted that his arrest may have violated freedom of speech and association rights.
During a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, Giles emphasized that the First Amendment applies to non-citizens without distinction. She emphasized that Suri’s release is unrelated to the deportation proceedings he faces in immigration court.
Suri arrived in the U.S. in 2022 on a J-1 visa as a visiting scholar at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he served as a post-doctoral researcher teaching a course on “Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia.” On March 17th this year, he was arrested outside his apartment in Arlington, Virginia, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and swiftly transferred to detention centers in Louisiana and Texas.
The Trump administration accused Suri of supporting the Hamas terrorist organization on social media and revoked his visiting scholar visa due to his Palestinian-American wife’s father’s previous role as a political advisor within the Hamas leadership. However, both Suri and his wife denied any direct ties to Hamas, stating that Suri had a strained relationship with his father-in-law.
Judge Giles remarked, “The government has not submitted any statements to the court on this matter, but has made statements on social media.” She added, “I’ve given the government multiple opportunities… National security and foreign policy considerations cannot be a basis for abandoning judicial functions.”
Attorney David Byerley from the Department of Justice argued that Giles had no authority to adjudicate the personal protection order lawsuit filed by Suri because Congress had directed that most deportation-related lawsuits should be handled in immigration courts managed by the Department of Justice rather than in federal district courts.
However, Giles disagreed with his viewpoint, stating that most district court judges considering the issue were allowed to raise constitutional questions regarding detention during deportation proceedings at immigration courts.
Byerley requested Giles to extend the ruling by seven days to continue detaining Suri so that government officials could appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. However, his request was denied by Giles.
Following the budget hearing in Congress on Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was questioned about Judge Giles’s ruling and whether the government would appeal. Noem replied, “I’m not sure which federal judge it is, and I’m not sure if we can appeal. When a federal judge makes a ruling, we will all abide by it.”