Deported Brown University doctor attended funeral for slain Hezbollah chief, had ‘sympathetic photos’ of terror leaders on her phone: DOJ
The Trump administration deported a Lebanese doctor who was an assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school after she addmitted that she attended a funeral for slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, officials said.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, was arrested after arriving at Boston’s Logan International Airport from Lebanon on Thursday. Her family claimed that officials provided no reason for her deportation, and they argued her rights were being violated because she had an active visa to live and work in the US.
The DOJ has since alleged that the Providence, Rhode Island, resident and visa holder has an affinity for the Hezbollah terrorist group, with Alawieh allegedly admitting that she attended the Nasrallah funeral last month while visiting family in Lebanon.
Alawieh claimed she attended the ceremony “from a religious perspective” and not a political one, according to Politico.
The Lebanese terror group leader oversaw the daily rocket attack on Israel, which began the day after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks. He was killed in a coordinated Israeli airstrike on his bunker in September 2024.
Alawieh, a kidney transplant doctor, was also allegedly caught with pictures and videos of Hezbollah leaders in the deleted items folder of her cellphone, Politico said.
“A visa is a privilege not a right — glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is common sense security,” the DHS said in a statement.
“CBP questioned Dr. Alawieh and determined that her true intentions in the United States could not be determined,” Assistant US Attorney Michael Sady wrote in a filing to the court on Monday.
Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Hilton Beckham said the burden of establishing proof of admissibility into the US falls on the immigrant, adding that the agency’s officers “adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats.”
The agency, however, did not immediately state what “threat” Alawieh posed, nor why she was chosen for removal, leading her family to file a lawsuit.
US District Judge Leo Sorokin had ordered the CBP to halt the Ivy League professor’s deportation until a court hearing on Monday, but the doctor was flown out of the country in a seemingly deliberate violation of the judge’s orders.
“The government shall respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events,” Sorokin, an Obama-era appointee, wrote in his order.
The CBP claimed it would never intentionally defy the court’s order, with official John Wallace testifying that the agency did not receive the order before Alawieh was flown to Paris on Friday night for a connecting flight to Lebanon.
Sorkin issued his order at 7:18 p.m. Friday, according to court records, about two minutes before CBP officers walked Alawieh to her flight, according to the court records.
The doctor’s flight departed from the gate around 7:43 p.m., taking off from the airport just before 8 p.m., according to flight tracker FlightAware.
Sorkin later canceled the hearing after the DHS submitted an affidavit under seal from a CBP border commander, CBS News reports.
The kidney transplant doctor has held a visa to be in the US since she first arrived in 2018 to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University.
She continued to carry her status at subsequent fellowships at the University of Washington and the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she completed in June.
Alawieh was then granted an H-1B visa from the US Consulate in Lebanon, authorizing her to work at Brown University, according to the lawsuit filed by her family.
The lawsuit claims Alawieh was visiting family in Lebanon and returning to her home in Providence when she was suddenly arrested by CBP officers at the Boston airport.
Alawieh’s case comes as concerns have risen in other cases over the weekend about whether the Trump administration is complying with court rulings blocking his immigration agenda.
The Trump administration touted Sunday that it had deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, despite a federal judge’s order temporarily barring such deportations.
