Texas Transfer Sought for Georgetown Deportation Case

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    In Alexandria, Virginia, a significant legal dispute is unfolding as the Trump administration seeks to relocate a lawsuit concerning a Georgetown scholar’s deportation from Virginia to Texas. The scholar, Badar Khan Suri, faces allegations of disseminating Hamas-related propaganda. During a recent court session, U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles expressed doubt about the government’s push to dismiss the Virginia case. Such a dismissal could potentially annul her previous March ruling, which ensured Khan Suri’s stay in the U.S. while his First Amendment legal proceedings are ongoing.

    Justice Department attorney David Byerley, representing the government, communicated that he required consultation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding the judge’s concerns. Although Byerley suggested there shouldn’t be an issue with ICE complying with the earlier ruling against Khan Suri’s deportation, Judge Giles voiced a measure of caution. “OK,” she remarked, “I’m not going to rely on that. But thank you.”

    Discourse before the hearing highlighted arguments from U.S. attorneys suggesting that Khan Suri’s original Virginia filing happened following his out-of-state transfer, and proposed moving it to Texas adheres to established legal practices. They contended that Khan Suri was relocated due to overcrowding at a Farmville, Virginia facility, initially to Louisiana, and then to Texas.

    Nevertheless, Judge Giles was skeptical of the overcrowding justification during the hearing. She requested more information concerning the capacity issues at Farmville during Khan Suri’s arrest. Khan Suri’s legal team, associated with the American Civil Liberties Union, revealed that upon arrival in Texas, he was forced to sleep on the floor. This situation later improved with his own cell.

    Khan Suri’s attorneys argued the motive behind the transfer was tactical: an effort to present the case before a more conservatively oriented judiciary. The term “forum shopping” was used to describe this perceived government maneuver by attorney Vishal Agraharkar. Unlike Virginia’s Alexandria court, Texas courts and those in western Louisiana predominantly have Republican-appointed judges. Cases brought there, regardless of outcome, could ascend to the conservatively slanted 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

    Following the courtroom proceedings, Hassan Ahmad, another lawyer for Khan Suri, reiterated the suspicious nature of the detention facility’s location and implications. “There is a reason why the detention facilities exist there,” Ahmad remarked, pressing on the need to end such strategic ploys.

    The lawsuit’s timeline tracks back to March 17, when masked officers apprehended Khan Suri in Arlington, Virginia. His attorneys suggest his arrest relates to his wife’s familial connections to Gaza. Additionally, his social media activity on the Gaza conflict, which expressed support for Palestinians, has been under scrutiny, triggering allegations of pro-Hamas propaganda. This was shared by Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin on a social platform.

    Khan Suri maintains Indian nationality and came to the U.S. in 2022 with a J-1 visa, fulfilling roles as a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University. He and his spouse, Mapheze Saleh, share parenting responsibilities for three young children. Before his detention, Khan Suri was actively involved in the academic discourse around regional human rights issues, especially in South Asia.