US authorities deported a Lebanese doctor working at an American university after pictures of Hezbollah were reportedly found on her phone, and she said she went to the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, the group’s leader assassinated by Israel.
Rasha Alawieh, a 34-year-old doctor and professor at Brown University, was detained and then deported hours later after landing at Boston’s Logan Airport.
According to a report in POLITICO, US authorities found “sympathetic photos and videos” of senior Hezbollah officials in the recently deleted items folder on her phone. She also reportedly said she went to last month’s funeral for Nasrallah, which was held in Beirut, and said he supported him “from a religious perspective,” not a political one.
“CBP questioned Dr. Alawieh and determined that her true intentions in the United States could not be determined,” Assistant US Attorney Michael Sady wrote in a filing to the court, POLITICO said.
Alawieh first came to the US in 2018 when she took part in a nephrology fellowship at Ohio State University, POLITICO reported. She has also studied at Yale and the University of Washington.
A hearing was scheduled for Monday after lawyers representing Alawieh filed a lawsuit pushing back against the decision.
According to POLITICO, the hearing has been postponed until next week.
Despite a judge ruling that she not be deported without notifying the courts, Customs and Border Protection agents put Alawieh on a plane back to France on Friday.
The CBP has said it had not received the court’s orders before Alawieh was put on the plane.
The Trump administration has been cracking down on foreigners in the United States, illegally or legally, over their actions and political views.
One of the more prominent cases has been Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia University who led protests last year against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Khalil was detained and continues to be held by immigration authorities as the Trump administration hopes to deport him. Khalil is a green card holder.
