A Brown University medical professor was deported to Lebanon over the weekend despite having a valid US work visa, defying a judge’s order blocking her immediate removal from the country.
Federal prosecutors on Monday alleged that they deported 34-year-old Rasha Alawieh after discovering “sympathetic photos and videos” on her cellphone of prominent figures of Iran-backed Hezbollah. Alawieh told federal agents that she had recently attended the funeral of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom she supported from a “religious perspective”, according to Reuters.
The case centering on Alawieh comes as Donald Trump’s second presidential administration has been escalating its immigration policies and targeting universities.
On Sunday, the US deported more than 250 immigrants, allegedly members of a Venezuelan and Salvadorian gang, to El Salvador despite a judge’s order halting the flights.
Alawieh was detained at Boston’s Logan international airport on Thursday after a trip to Lebanon to visit family. Her cousin, Yara Chehab, filed a lawsuit soon after in Massachusetts federal court on her behalf.
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