The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request from the Trump administration to re-detain Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown college professor who criticized the war in Gaza, while he continues to fight the revocation of his visa.
Judges appointed by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden ruled in favor of Khan Suri while a judge appointed by former President Ronald Reagan dissented.
Khan Suri was arrested by masked, plainclothes officers on the evening of March 17 outside his apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia. He was moved several times while in custody to Texas and Louisiana.
A judge ordered Khan Suri released from detention in May, ruling his detention was “retaliatory” for activity protected by the First Amendment.
Officials said his visa was revoked because of his social media posts and his wife's connection to Gaza as a Palestinian American. They accused him of supporting Hamas, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.
In court, the government claimed his visa was revoked based on a secret memo declaring him a threat to U.S. foreign policy, though the memo has not been disclosed.
Khan Suri, an Indian citizen, came to the U.S. in 2022 through a J-1 visa, working at Georgetown as a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow. He and wife Saleh have three children: a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old twins.
Before his arrest, he taught a course on majority and minority human rights in South Asia, according to court records. The filings said he hoped to become a professor and embark on a career in academia.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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