BOSTON (AP) — A doctor from Lebanon who arrived at the Boston airport was deported over the weekend without explanation, despite having a U.S. visa and a job teaching at Brown University.
A judge had ordered she not be sent back until there was a hearing, but government lawyers said customs officials did not get word in time.
It’s the latest deportation of a foreign-born person with a U.S. visa in the past week, after a student at Columbia who led protests of the Gaza war was arrested, and another student’s visa was revoked. The Trump administration also transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, had been granted the visa on March 11 and arrived at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday, according to a complaint filed on her behalf by a cousin in federal court.
Alawieh, who had worked and lived in Rhode Island previously, was detained at least 36 hours, through Friday, and was going to be sent back to Lebanon, the complaint said. Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist, was to start work at Brown University as an assistant professor of medicine.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin issued an order on Friday that an in-person hearing be scheduled Monday, with Alawieh brought to court.
“Whether or not she is in custody of the United States, the court anticipates proceeding with this hearing,” he wrote.
But by Saturday, the cousin filed a motion that customs officials “willfully” disobeyed the order by sending Alawieh back to Lebanon.
Lawyers for the government said in a court filing Monday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Boston Logan International Airport did not receive notice of the order until she “had already departed the United States,” the judge noted. They asked that the petition be dismissed.
The judge put a hearing on her case on hold on Monday, to give Alawieh’s lawyers time to prepare.
Stephanie Marzouk, Alawieh’s lawyer, said they were working to ensure the U.S. government follows the rule of law. She said they would not stop fighting to get her back in the U.S., “to see her patients where she should be.”
Alawieh worked at Brown prior to the issuance of her H1B visa, the complaint said. It said she has held fellowships and residencies at three universities in the United States.
A spokesperson for Brown said Alawieh is an employee of Brown Medicine with a clinical appointment to Brown.
Brown Medicine is a not-for-profit medical practice that is its own organization and serves its own patients directly. It is affiliated with Brown University’s medical school.
On Monday, a handful of Alawieh’s colleagues stood outside Boston’s federal courthouse to support the doctor.
“She is a one of three transplant nephrologists in the entire state of Rhode Island, which, you know, also serves the parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut,” said Dr. Susie Hu. “Her absence is really detrimental to our program.”
Hu added transplant nephrology is a “highly specialized field” and filling Alawieh’s position will likely be very difficult.
Dr. Douglas Shemin, who said he hired Alawieh at Brown Medicine, called her an “outstanding” clinician, physician and teacher who eagerly put in long hours without complaining.
“She has an important fountain of knowledge, a fountain of knowledge that not everyone has,” he said.
Brown Medicine currently has roughly 300 to 400 patients waiting for kidney transplants, according to Shemin. Each one needs to regularly evaluated, which now must be done by just two doctors.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, a Democrat, said in a statement over the weekend that is “committed to getting answers from the Department of Homeland Security to provide Dr. Alawieh, her family, her colleagues, and our community the clarity we all deserve.”
A rally was planned to support her Monday night at the Rhode Island statehouse.
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This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the doctor’s last name throughout. Her name is Rasha Alawieh, not Rasha Alawiech.
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McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Kimberlee Kruesi contributed to this report from Nashville, Tennessee.
