The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that brown university professors and doctors were deported on a valid visa after saying they attended the funeral of a Hezbollah leader in February while on a trip to Lebanon.
According to a Homeland Security spokesperson, Dr. Rasha Alawyer, a Lebanese, “openly acknowledged” his support for leader Hassan Nasrara, when he was questioned by customs and border guards when he returned to the United States. Dr. Alawie was taken into custody at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday.
“Visa is a privilege that is not a right,” spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement in The New York Times. “To praise and support terrorists who kill Americans is to be denied the basis for issuing a visa. This is common sense security.”
The department did not say how he knew Dr. Alawie attended a funeral held at the sports stadium and attracted tens of thousands of people. He also did not answer any questions regarding whether Dr. Alawie was accused of a crime or immigration violation.
Stephanie Marzouk, an attorney representing members of Dr. Alawieh's family, did not respond to a request for an interview Monday.
Late Sunday, the Arnold & Porter company's lawyers team, set to represent their families, had withdrawn from the lawsuit and told the court that it was “as a result of further hard work.”
A federal judge overseeing the case decided to postpone the hearing in the lawsuit Monday after Malzuk demanded more time for preparation. She represents Dr. Alawie's cousin, Yara Sherve.
According to a court docket, US lawyer Michael Sadie filed a new claim in the case Monday morning. The filings are sealed.
Dr. Alawie, 34, is a Lebanese citizen who traveled to her home country last month. She was taken into custody Thursday. She returned from the trip, according to a court complaint filed by Shev.
The judge in the case, Leo T. Sorokin of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, ordered the government on Friday evening to provide the court with 48 hours of notice before deporting Dr. Alawie. But at the time she was already on a plane sitting in a tarmac in Boston, about to take off to Paris on her way to Lebanon.
According to court dockets, the government said Monday it was not aware of Judge Sorokin's order when Dr. Alawie's plane took off. However, Claire Sanders, one of the lawyers involved in the case, originally filed an affidavit that she was at the airport on Friday evening over the weekend, saying she notified customs and border guards of the judge's order before the flight departed. Sanders is with Arnold and Porter, a company that retreated from the incident on Sunday night.
Dr. Alawie graduated from the University of Beirut in the United States in 2015. Three years later, she came to the United States, hosting medical fellowships at Ohio State University and Washington University, and worked as a Yale University resident.
While she was visiting relatives in Lebanon, the US Consulate issued her an H1-B visa for foreign workers with special skills. Before that, she had a J-1 visa, the type used by some foreign students.
“We want to learn more about what happened,” said Brian Clark, a spokesman for Brown University.
There is a shortage of American doctors working in the Department of Transplantation and Nephrology, Dr. Alawie's speciality. Experts say foreign-born doctors play an important role in this field.
Fear of immigrant status “can cause even more harm to the pipeline,” said Dr. Alawier and Dr. George Baylis, who works at the Brown Medical Kidney Transplant Program.
Her patients included individuals waiting for a transplant and individuals dealing with complex conditions that could occur after the transplant, Dr. Baylis said. He called Dr. Alawie “a very talented, extremely thoughtful doctor.”
He also said he had not discussed politics with her.
In a letter to members of the university community on Sunday, Brown's administration advised foreign students to “consider or delay individual travel outside the United States until more information is available from the US State Department.”
Maya Shwayder Reports of contributions. Susan C. Beach Contributed research.
