Assistant Professor of Medicine Rasha Alawieh was held at Boston Logan International Airport Thursday after visiting her family in Lebanon. A family member learned she would be deported on Friday and contacted her attorneys, according to a petition filed in federal court on her behalf.
Returning from the trip, she was in possession of a valid H-1B visa she recently received from the American consulate in Beirut, the filing said. An H-1B visa allows employers to hire foreign workers for positions that require specialty knowledge.
The petition claims Alawieh, who also works for Brown Medicine’s Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension, is being held “without any justification” or permission to access legal counsel. The filing attests that the State Department and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service approved her visa, and the reason why she was held by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection remains unclear.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The incident comes amid a nationwide crackdown on immigration by the Trump administration.
“My colleagues and I are outraged at Dr. Alawieh’s detention and deportation without due process,” George Bayliss, Brown Medicine doctor and associate professor of medicine wrote in an email to The Herald.
Assistant Professor of Medicine Rasha Alawieh. Courtesy of George Bayliss.
“Beyond the affront to democracy, this is wrong on a personal level. She went home to see her parents,” he wrote. “This deprives her of the chance to practice medicine and deprives her patients of her knowledge and skills.”
According to the filing, Alawieh graduated medical school in 2015 and held fellowships and residencies at three U.S. universities on a J-1 student visa. When offered the assistant professorship at Brown, she petitioned and was approved for an H-1B visa, sponsored by Brown Medicine, the filing said.
“Her colleagues have been covering for her, but that is no solution. Dr. Alawieh is an outstanding academic in Transplant Nephrology, and she is needed at Brown Medicine,” the action reads.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ordered Friday that Alawieh not be moved outside of Massachusetts without providing the court 48 hours’ notice of the move and the reasoning behind it.
Immigration officials did not receive this order before Alawieh was sent on a plane to Paris, according to the Boston Globe. The Herald was unable to independently verify Alawieh’s whereabouts.
Brown Spokesperson Brian Clark said the University is trying to seek more information about the situation. “We need to be careful about sharing information publicly about an individual’s personal circumstances,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Cate Latimer is a university news editor covering faculty, University Hall and higher education. She is from Portland, OR, and studies English and Urban Studies. In her free time, you can find her playing ultimate frisbee or rewatching episodes of Parks and Rec.
