PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the deportation of a doctor from Lebanon, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who was removed from Boston's Logan Airport earlier this year despite possessing a visa. The dismissal comes after immigration officials claimed that her attendance at the funeral of a Hezbollah leader raised suspicions about her political affiliations.
In March, Dr. Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist at Brown University, was detained at Logan Airport for over 36 hours while immigration officials reviewed her phone and found concerning photos. According to Alawieh, her interest was spiritual rather than political, but she acknowledged that some in her family supported Hezbollah.
Following her detention, a legal team sought judicial intervention to prevent her deportation. A federal judge, however, had issued a temporary order which customs officials purportedly ignored, leading to Alawieh’s deportation before a hearing could occur.
Late last month, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled against Alawieh, asserting that he did not have the jurisdiction to remove the five-year bar to her return to the U.S. He referred to congressional mandates and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling emphasizing the limitations placed on federal judges regarding expedited deportations.
The five-year bar on her return is not a consequence of the detention she originally challenged as unlawful... it is a feature of the expedited removal order issued during that detention, Judge Sorokin stated in his findings.
An email has been sent to Alawieh’s attorneys for comment as this story continues to unfold.
