Lebanese Doctor at Brown University Deported in Spite of Judge’s Order

An assistant professor at Brown University’s Medical School has been deported to Lebanon despite a judge blocking her immediate removal from the country.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, an Obama-appointed judge, will hear a case on Monday on whether the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had “willfully” disobeyed an order blocking Dr. Rasha Alawieh’s deportation to Lebanon.

Hilton Beckham, a CBP spokesperson, said that migrants bear the burden of establishing admissibility and that the agency’s officers “adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats.”

CBP detained Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen who lives in Providence, Rhode Island, when she arrived at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, after traveling to her home country to see relatives.

Newsmax reported:

She had held a visa to be in the United States since 2018, when she first came to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University before then completing a fellowship at the University of Washington and then moving to the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she completed in June.

While in Lebanon, the U.S. consulate issued Alawieh an H-1B visa authorizing her entry into the United States to work at Brown University, the lawsuit said. Such visas are reserved for people from other countries who are employed in specialty occupations.

Judge Sorokin on Friday evening issued an order blocking Alawieh’s removal from Massachusetts without 48 hours notice to the court.

The Trump administration has moved to remove criminal migrants to detention centers in El Salvador, beating an American judge’s attempt to restrain the international enforcement of the country’s immigration laws.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked El Salvadoran leader Nayib Bukele for accepting 238 Venezuelan migrants:

We have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador. Also, as promised by @POTUS, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars.

President @nayibbukele is not only the strongest security leader in our region, he’s also a great friend of the U.S. Thank you!