A Georgetown University scholar from India who was arrested in the Trump administration's crackdown on foreign college students was released from immigration detention Wednesday after a federal judge's ruling.
Badar Khan Suri will go home to his family in Virginia while he awaits the outcome of his petition against the Trump administration for wrongful arrest and detention, claiming it violated his First Amendment and other constitutional rights. He's also facing deportation proceedings in an immigration court in Texas.
"Justice delayed is justice denied," Khan Suri told reporters after his release from a detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, near Dallas. "It took two months, but I'm extremely thankful that finally I'm free."
Immigration authorities have detained foreigners on student visas from across the country — many of whom participated in anti-Israel campus protests following Iranian-backed Hamas' terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel's military response int the Gaza Strip.
Khan Suri is the latest to win release from custody, along with Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student from Turkey, and Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, a Joe Biden appointee, in Alexandria, Virginia, said she was releasing Khan Suri because she felt he had substantial constitutional claims against the Trump administration. She also considered the needs of his family and said she didn't believe he was a danger to the community.
"Speech regarding the conflict there and opposing Israel's military campaign is likely protected political speech," Giles said. "And thus, he was likely engaging in protected speech."
The judge added: "The First Amendment does not distinguish between citizens and noncitizens."
The Trump administration said that it revoked Khan Suri's visa because of his social media posts and his wife's connection to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. They accused him of supporting Hamas.
Khan Suri's attorneys claim he and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, have been targeted because Saleh's father worked with the Hamas-backed Gazan government for more than a decade, but Hamas' terrorist attack.
According to the U.S. government, Khan Suri has undisputed family ties to the terrorist organization, which he "euphemistically refers to as 'the government of Gaza.' " But the American Civil Liberties Union has said that Khan Suri hardly knew the father, Ahmed Yousef.
Giles acknowledged the Trump administration's need to prioritize national security but said that "whatever deference may be appropriate, concerns of national security" do not supersede the judiciary.
David Byerley, a Justice Department attorney, argued against Khan Suri's release. He told the judge that Khan Suri's First Amendment case is inextricably intertwined with the deportation case in Texas, so he should stay there.
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 his wife have three children.
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.
After his release Wednesday, Khan Suri described his arrest as "Kafkaesque" and said "they made a subhuman out of me. They took me from one center to another, not letting my family know, not letting me know that I have attorneys."
He said he's "extremely happy" to be out but "I feel bad for the students who are still inside."
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