More than 370 alumni of Georgetown University joined 65 current students there in signing on to a letter opposing immigration authorities’ detention of Dr Badar Khan Suri, a senior postdoctoral fellow at the institution’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU).
The letter, dated Sunday and shared with the Guardian, follows the Trump administration’s detention of Khan Suri – a citizen of India – on 17 March. He is being held at an immigration prison in Alvarado, Texas, where his next hearing is scheduled for 6 May.
Immigration officials revoked his J-1 student visa, alleging his father-in-law was an adviser to Hamas officials more than a decade ago – and claiming he was “deportable” because of his posts on social media in support of Palestine.
Khan Suri’s wife, who is of Palestinian descent, is a US citizen.
Citing the ideals of the Catholic religious order that founded Georgetown University in Washington DC, Sunday’s letter said Khan Suri’s “persecution represents a fundamental violation of academic freedom, due process, and the Jesuit values that define” the institution.
“We see his detention clearly for what it is: an attempt to instill fear, silence critical thought, and erode solidarity among students and scholars of varying backgrounds and identities,” the letter added. “We reject this attempt and demand his immediate release.”
The letter notes immigration authorities arrested Khan Suri at his home in Virginia, and it contends that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has provided no evidence to support its claims.
A senior Georgetown official, meanwhile, said the university was not provided an explanation for Khan Suri’s detention.
“We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” said Joel Hellman, the dean of Georgetown’s school of foreign service, in a statement.
Sunday’s letter compares Khan Suri’s detention to those of other academic scholars around the US under Donald Trump’s second presidency, including Mahmoud Khalil, Ranjani Srinivasan, and Leqaa Kordia of Columbia University – as well as Rasha Alawieh of Brown University.
The letter also calls for Georgetown University to take a firm and public stance in support of academic freedom and to invite members of the university community to discuss a collective response. It additionally calls for academic institutions, alumni, students and faculty nationwide to unite in rejecting these attacks.
The letter was issued three days after 130 Jewish faculty, staff, students, and alumni of Georgetown signed on to a letter in support of Khan Suri. The signers of that missive said Trump is weaponizing Jewish identity, faith, and antisemitism to justify arrests and deportations that have become staples of his return to the White House in January after his first term as president.
“While we may hold varying opinions and perspectives on Israel-Palestine, we all agree that the growing wave of politically motivated campus deportation efforts is an authoritarian move that harms the entire campus community,” the earlier letter stated. “We encourage Jews and everyone – at Georgetown and beyond – to take action and speak out.”
The DHS and the White House have dismissed that letter and criticisms of the arrests.
A DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, told NPR that the letter from Jewish members of Georgetown was “pretty absurd mental gymnastics”.
“To believe that revoking visas of individuals who glorify and support terrorists, harass Jews and do the bidding of organizations that relish the killing of Americans and Jews is in fact making Jewish students less safe,” McLaughlin argued.
