Badar Khan Suri is the latest international student to be detained by ICE, as the Trump administration cracks down on providing visas for students who have expressed anti-Israel sentiment. Suri is from India and is married to a Palestinian woman. His case follows the arrest of Syrian national Mahmoud Khalil, who had his green card revoked over his participation in several anti-Israel protests where Hamas propaganda was distributed.
“Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,” Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement on X. In a subsequent post, McLaughlin confirmed that Suri’s “father-in-law is a Hamas political advisor.”
“The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025, that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i),” McLaughlin explained.
This code refers to “an alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.”
ICE agents descended on Suri’s home in Arlington, Virginia, without notice to Georgetown University. Suri was also a teacher at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
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“We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention. We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable,” Georgetown said. “We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended decisions to detain certain visa holders, reminding them that they are “visitors” and “don’t have a right to be in the United States.” Rubio confirmed that visas would not be granted to a person who is forthcoming about their views that are counter to U.S. foreign policy interests.
