Indian Green Card holder in US to be deported as father-in-law was earlier a Hamas minister

 

Indian academic Badar Khan Suri, a Green Card holder and postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, is set to be deported after being detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents at his home in Arlington, Virginia. His lawyer alleges that Suri is being targeted because of his Palestinian spouse, while officials claim he has links to a designated terrorist organization.

Arrest and Deportation Orders

Masked DHS agents reportedly informed Suri that his visa had been revoked before taking him into custody. Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary at DHS, stated, "Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media."

According to McLaughlin, Suri has "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas." This likely refers to his father-in-law, Ahamed Yousef, who previously served as deputy foreign minister in the Hamas government and later led the House of Wisdom Institute in Gaza.

The Secretary of State determined on March 15, 2025, that Suri’s activities made him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i), which applies to foreign nationals engaged in activities that could be deemed a security threat.

Lawyer Alleges Bias Over Palestinian Spouse

Suri’s legal representative, Hassan Ahmad, argues that his client is being unfairly targeted, "He is being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife, and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose U.S. foreign policy toward Israel," he told Politico.

Suri met his wife, Maphaz Ahmad Yousef, in 2011 while assisting an international aid convoy to Gaza. She was working as a translator with a humanitarian group. The couple married in January 2014 in Delhi after political instability in Egypt prevented them from holding the ceremony in Gaza.

Links to Pro-Palestinian Movements

Suri, who previously studied at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, was teaching “Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia” at Georgetown University. His arrest follows the self-deportation of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student at Columbia University, who left for Canada after DHS linked her to pro-Palestinian campus activities.

DHS has been cracking down on individuals suspected of spreading Hamas propaganda under a broader effort by the Trump administration to curb radical activities on U.S. campuses.