Deported Brown University doctor had ‘sympathetic photos’ of Hezbollah leaders on her phone, DOJ says
The Trump administration deported a Lebanese doctor who was an assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school after investigators found “sympathetic photos and videos” of Hezbollah leaders on her phone, the Department of Justice said.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, was arrested after arriving at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Thursday. Her family claimed that officials provided no reason for her deportation, and they argued her rights were being violated because she had an active visa to live in work in the US.
The DOJ has since alleged that the Providence, Rhode Island resident has an affinity for the Lebanon-based terror group, with pictures and videos of the Hezbollah leaders found in the deleted items folder of her cell phone, Politico reported.
Alawieh also allegedly admitted that she attended a funeral for slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last month while visiting family in Lebanon, according to the feds.
She claimed she attended the ceremony “from a religious perspective” and not a political one, according the Politico.
“CBP questioned Dr. Alawieh and determined that her true intentions in the United States could not be determined,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sady wrote in a filing to the court on Monday.
Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Hilton Beckham said the burden of establishing proof of admissibility into the US falls on the immigrant, adding that the agency’s officers “adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats.”
The agency, however, did not immediately state what “threat” Alawieh posed, nor why she was chosen for removal, leading her family to file a lawsuit.
US District Judge Leo Sorokin had ordered the CBP to halt the Ivy League professor’s deportation until a court hearing on Monday, but the doctor was flown out of the country in a seemingly deliberate violation of the judge’s orders.
“The government shall respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events,” Sorokin, an Obama-era appointee, wrote in his order.
The CBP claimed it would never intentionally defy the courts’ order, with official John Wallace testifying that the agency did not receive the court order before Alawieh was flown to Paris on Friday night for a connecting flight to Lebanon.
Sorkin issued his order at 7:18 p.m. on Friday, according to court records, about two minutes before CBP officers walked Alawieh to her flight, according to the court records.
The doctor’s flight departed from the gate at around 7:43 p.m., taking off from the airport just before 8 p.m., according to flight tracker FlightAware.
Sorkin has postponed Monday’s hearing, giving the government another week to submit further information about what happened with Alawieh.
The kidney transplant doctor has held a visa to be in the US since she first arrived to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University.
She continued to carry her status at subsequent fellowships at the University of Washington and the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she completed in June.
Alawieh was then granted an H-1B visa from the US consulate in Lebanon, authorizing her to work at Brown University, according to the lawsuit filed by her family.
The lawsuit claims Alawieh was visiting family in Lebanon and returning to her home in Providence when she was suddenly arrested by CBP officers at the Boston airport.
Alawieh’s case comes as concerns have risen in other cases over the weekend about whether the Trump administration is complying with court rulings blocking his immigration agenda.
The Trump administration touted Sunday that it had deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, despite a federal judge’s order temporarily barring such deportations.
With Post wires
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