The media would have you think that the detention of Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University fellow, is the act of an administration with a cruel immigration policy. That’s precisely wrong. Suri has familial terror ties, as his wife’s father is a political adviser to Hamas.
You will get detained with these roots, and it should happen. People with terror ties should be watched and if necessary, detained and deported. On the latter, that must wait, as a judge blocked Suri’s deportation until his case can be heard. The judge was a Biden appointee (via The Hill):
A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from removing a Georgetown University postdoctoral scholar from the country until the court can consider his legal challenge.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national who has a student visa, filed a habeas petition challenging his detention after he was arrested by immigration authorities in Virginia on Monday.
The Trump administration alleges that Suri has close connections to a senior adviser to Hamas, has actively spread Hamas propaganda and promoted antisemitism on social media. His attorneys say he is being targeted because his wife, a U.S. citizen, is of Palestinian descent and the two have voiced support of Palestinian rights.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in a brief order Thursday afternoon instructed the government to not remove Suri from the country “unless and until the Court issues a contrary order.”
Like his first presidency, Trump faces a legal onslaught from district judges knowingly exceeding their authority. A little judge should not be able to issue nationwide injunctions. That topic will be revisited, but this second administration is eager and ready to fight in the courts. They weren’t caught flat-footed this time. They have people in place to fight for the president’s positions. It doesn’t negate that we’re amid a judicial coup.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - Federal judge orders Trump administration not to deport a detained Georgetown scholar unless court rules otherwise.
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) March 20, 2025
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