We have another person who is about to become the latest ‘Nelson Mandela’ figure for the liberal media: a Georgetown University researcher who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. You know where this is going; the media will frame this as the devolvement of compassionate immigration policy, replaced by the cruelty of Donald Trump and ICE. Let’s give the baseline here, courtesy of The Washington Post:
Federal immigration authorities on Monday night detained a Georgetown University fellow in the United States legally on a student visa, according to the researcher’s lawyer, who promptly filed a lawsuit petitioning for his immediate release.
Indian national Badar Khan Suri was detained outside his home in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, by Department of Homeland Security agents, his attorneys told The Washington Post. Suri was then brought to a holding facility in central Virginia before being taken to Alexandria, Louisiana, where he is now awaiting a date in immigration court, one of the lawyers, Hassan Ahmad, said.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin alleged on X that Suri was spreading “Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.” She further alleged that Suri had connection to a senior adviser to Hamas. Ahmad said he is innocent.
[…]
Suri’s detainment comes a week after Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian protest leader at Columbia University and green-card holder who also was held in Louisiana. President Donald Trump had accused Khalil and other pro-Palestinian activists of engaging in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” but a judge temporarily blocked that deportation.
Federal officials have also ramped up arrests and detentions of other immigrants with legal statuses in the United States as Trump tries to deliver on the broader immigration crackdown he promised during his campaign. First Amendment attorneys have called Khalil’s arrest a chilling, unconstitutional restriction of free speech.
My response: I don’t really care, Margaret. These people are affiliated with radical Islamic terrorism. Suri’s father-in-law is a Hamas political adviser. Khalil is a de facto spokesperson for the terror group and has caused mayhem in support of them in our higher education institutions. That’s not free speech; green cards can be revoked, and this was never a First Amendment issue. What it does show is how the Left weaponizes American values to push their selfish agenda items that are illiberal, authoritarian, and now totally whacked.
.@politico describing the fact that the deportee’s father-in-law is a Hamas political advisor as a “wrinkle.”
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) March 20, 2025
How do you get so far off the reservation? https://t.co/DU8C9P8Lo2
Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) March 20, 2025
Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas. The Secretary of State issued a… https://t.co/gU02gLAlX1
Lmao buried fucking lede https://t.co/aGxrdiWECW
— Michael Duncan (@MichaelDuncan) March 20, 2025
If you have family members who are Hamas members, hell yes, I want these people detained and if necessary, booted the hell out of our country.
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