PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the deportation of a doctor from Lebanon who was deported from Boston’s Logan Airport earlier this year despite having a visa after immigration officials said she supported a Hezbollah leader and attended his funeral.
In March, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist at Brown University, was detained for at least 36 hours in Boston’s airport after arriving from Lebanon. The doctor was traveling with her family and attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of Hezbollah.
Homeland Security officials claim they reviewed her phone while Alawieh was detained and found photos of Hezbollah fighters and martyrs. Alawieh contended that her interest lay solely in Nasrallah’s spiritual beliefs, although she admitted that some family members supported his political stance.
Her case soon attracted national attention as her family initiated a legal effort to prevent her from leaving the U.S. A federal judge initially ordered that she could not be taken away until a hearing occurred, but attorneys asserted that customs officials were not informed until after her removal back to Lebanon.
Late last month, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin dismissed Alawieh’s case, stating his lack of authority to provide the relief she sought. He explained that he could not lift the five-year ban on her return to the U.S. stemming from her deportation.
Judge Sorokin noted Congress and a Supreme Court ruling from 2020 that upheld a fast-track deportation process, which limited judges' ability to intervene. “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,” Sorokin ruled.
An email seeking comment was sent to Alawieh’s attorneys, and the judge's decision has further elucidated the complexities surrounding immigration enforcement.
