Posted on 03/17/25
| News Source: The Hill
An assistant professor from Brown University’s medical school with a valid visa was deported from the U.S. despite a judge’s order that she was not to be removed.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, an appointee of former President Obama, was set to hold a hearing Monday after Rasha Alawieh was deported to Lebanon but canceled it shortly before it began. The deportation came after Sorokin said Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist, was to stay in the country.
Alawieh was detained Thursday after returning to the U.S. following travel abroad. Sorokin on Friday ordered the government to provide 48 hours notice before deporting her, but she was then put on a flight out of the country.
Her attorneys argue the federal government “willfully” disobeyed the court order.
“These allegations are supported by a detailed and specific timeline in an under oath affidavit filed by an attorney. The government shall respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events,” the judge said.
According to court documents, the federal government says Customs and Border Patrol officers did not receive notice of the court order to keep Alawieh in the country until after she was deported and “[a]t no time would CBP not take a court order seriously or fail to abide by a court’s order.”
On Sunday night, Alawieh’s attorneys withdrew as her counsel “as a result of further diligence,” and her new team says it needs more time to prepare. It is not immediately clear what led to her lawyers withdrawing from the case.