As the cases of international students and activists facing deportation begin to play out in the courts, Georgetown professor Nader Hashemi visited an ICE jail in Texas to speak with his colleague Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown professor who was snatched by the Trump administration back in March. Suri is married to a U.S. citizen of Palestinian background. Once Hashemi arrived at the prison, he was shocked to learn that Suri had been designated a high-security prisoner and only granted two hours of fresh air a week.
“Badar Khan Suri was very adamant that the suffering and the pain that he has faced and that his family has been subjected to will be worth it, if it helps expose, number one, the naked authoritarianism the Trump administration, and, number two, if his incarceration keeps the spotlight on the genocide on Gaza,” says Hashemi.
A federal immigration judge will rule on Suri’s case in the coming days. “Dr. Suri was picked up because he had spoken out for peace,” says Mary Bauer, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia. “He was arrested very clearly because of his political view and family association.”
