UPDATE (03/20/2025): In response to Dr. Suri's emergency filings, a federal judge ordered that he cannot be removed from the country, pending the outcome of our lawsuit. This is an important first step. We'll continue to work to ensure Dr. Suri is returned to Virginia and released to his family.
The ACLU of Virginia and the HMA Law Firm filed an emergency motion in the Eastern District of Virginia on behalf of a Georgetown professor who has been targeted by the Trump administration for removal from the U.S. in direct retaliation for his speech in support of Palestinian rights and his family’s ties to Gaza.
Dr. Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown professor and postdoctoral scholar on religion and peace processes in the Middle East and South Asia is legally in the U.S. on a research scholar and professor visa. He is an Indian national who lives with his U.S. citizen wife and three children in Rosslyn, Virginia. When he arrived home on Monday evening following a traditional Ramadan meal celebration, he was taken into custody by masked federal agents without being charged with or accused of any crime. In just over 72 hours, he has been transferred to multiple immigration detention centers and is currently at an ICE staging center in Alexandria, Louisiana potentially awaiting deportation.
The First Amendment protects the right to free speech of everyone in the United States, regardless of their immigration status. The Trump administration's actions are in violation of the Due Process Clause and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The emergency motion asks the court to bar the administration from removing Dr. Suri from the U.S. pending the case’s consideration, and that Dr. Suri be immediately returned to Virginia and released to his family.
