On May 14, in an Alexandria, Virginia, courtroom packed with supporters, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered that Badar Khan Suri be released from immigration detention. Suri’s supporters included some of his students at Georgetown University, where he is a fellow at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding; local Palestine solidarity activists wearing keffiyehs; a staffer from Congressman Don Beyer’s (D-VA) office; and Muslim civil rights activist Linda Sarsour. When Judge Giles announced that court was adjourned after issuing a stinging rebuke from the bench to the government, the courtroom erupted into applause.
Suri is one of a number of noncitizens Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered detained for their pro-Palestinian speech. Rubio is using a previously obscure power that allows the secretary of state to deport someone if their presence in the United States poses adverse consequences for US foreign policy.
Suri’s release on bail marks the third time in two weeks a judge has granted bail to one of Rubio’s victims. On April 30, US district judge Geoffrey W. Crawford ordered Columbia University graduate student Mohsen Mahdawi be granted bail; on May 9, US district judge William K. Sessions III ordered Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk similarly released. Each decision was delivered over the government’s objections.
Suri has been liberated from immigration detention in Texas and will be reunited with his family in Virginia. But he is not out of danger yet. Like Mahdawi and Öztürk, he has been granted bail pending a final ruling by a judge on the constitutionality of his detention. A separate proceeding in immigration court to determine whether Suri can be removed from the country will also continue.
But in…
Auteur: Chip Gibbons
