A US district court judge has stopped the deportation of Indian researcher Badar Khan Suri, who was arrested over alleged ties to Hamas.
According to a report by AFP, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that Suri “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court issues a contrary order.”
His lawyer called the arrest a “targeted, retaliatory detention” meant “to silence, or at the very least restrict and chill, his speech” and that of others who “express support for Palestinian rights.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has also taken up his case, filing an emergency motion to stop his deportation. According to a report by AFP, ACLU attorney Sophia Gregg said, “Ripping someone from their home and family, stripping them of their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence dissent. That is patently unconstitutional.”