Trump administration asks Supreme Court to detain Badar Khan Suri again

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to detain Badar Khan Suri again Submitted by MEE staff on Wed, 09/23/2026 - 19:34 Georgetown scholar was detained due to criticism of Israel; the case could determine how much power federal courts have to intervene in immigration detention Badar Khan Suri is seen with his wife, Mapheze Saleh, outside the US Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia (Screengrab/GoFundMe) Off The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn the decision to release Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, who was held in an immigration detention centre for two months last year because of his criticism of Israel.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the high court on Monday to examine the issue, saying that federal judges should not have the power to intervene in immigration court cases, where non-citizens are meant to challenge their deportation orders.

By doing so, the conservative-leaning court could set a landmark precedent for future cases. Suri is a legal US resident with Indian citizenship and is married to a US citizen.

His case gained global attention after he became one of the earliest targets of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), when masked agents arrested him on the evening of 17 March 2025, outside his home in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC and took him away.

His family, colleagues, and supporters maintain that right-wing, pro-Israel actors targeted Suri to make an example out of him, given his wife is of Palestinian descent and the daughter of a former Hamas political advisor.

"The administration has falsely argued that Dr Khan Suri’s presence in the United States 'compromises a compelling foreign policy interest' and therefore, under a rarely used section of the Immigration and Nationality Act, it has the right to deport him," the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is part of Suri's legal team, previously said in a statement in July.

In July, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to detain him again, and affirmed a lower court ruling that ordered his release on bail as his case proceeded.

On Wednesday, Noor Zafar, senior staff attorney for ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, told Middle East Eye via email that the Fourth Circuit "correctly ruled that denying judicial review of detention claims of people like Dr Badar Khan Suri’s misreads Congress’ statutes and undermines the protections guaranteed all persons on American soil...

Our client should never have been jailed for exercising his First Amendment rights in the first place".

Two legal battles Suri is in a two-tiered legal fight: as his federal habeas case continues, his immigration case is proceeding on a separate track in the government-run immigration court, which falls under the DOJ and answers to the US attorney general.

Badar Khan Suri blasts 'shallow' Trump administration at immigration hearing Read More » The term "habeas" stems from "habeas corpus", which is of Latin origin.

In 13th-century England, it was used to prevent the king from disappearing people without due process. Today, it applies to everyone on US territory, citizen or not.

In March 2025, the masked men who arrested him, who turned out to be federal agents, said his visa was revoked on the orders of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media".

Suri remained in an ICE detention centre in Alvaredo, Texas, for two months, in conditions he described as overcrowded and unsanitary. A federal judge ordered his release on 14 May 2025.

His case, challenging the government’s attempts to deport him for his political views, continues for now while Suri is reunited with his wife and three children, who live in Virginia.

"I have worked for [the] peace process all my life, 20 years now, and I know this is a tough thing.

So I am ready for these challenges, and I'm very hopeful that justice will prevail," Suri said outside the Annandale, Virginia immigration courthouse last week.

In an online fundraiser for his legal fees that his research supervisor, Nader Hashemi, has organised, he described Suri as committed to work that is "academic, humanistic, and grounded in a belief that peace is possible through dialogue and mutual understanding".

"He’s dedicated his life to that mission. " Immigration News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0