Lebanese Ivy League doctor deported despite federal judge’s order

A Rhode Island doctor and assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school has been deported to Lebanon despite a federal judge’s order barring her immediate removal, court documents reveal.

The incident is now the subject of a legal battle, with a federal judge in Boston demanding answers about whether US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) deliberately ignored his directive.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, was expelled over the weekend, prompting US District Judge Leo Sorokin to call for a hearing to determine if CBP had “willfully” violated his order. The judge, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, stated that an attorney representing Alawieh had provided a “detailed and specific” account raising serious concerns about the agency’s actions.

CBP has not publicly disclosed why Alawieh was removed from the US, but the case comes amid intensified immigration enforcement efforts. CBP spokesperson Hilton Beckham stated that migrants are responsible for proving their admissibility, adding that officers follow strict protocols to identify potential threats.

Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen residing in Providence, was detained upon her return to the US at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Thursday. According to a lawsuit filed by her cousin, Yara Chehab, she had traveled to Lebanon to visit relatives and held a valid visa.

Since arriving in the US in 2018, she has completed fellowships at Ohio State University, the University of Washington, and Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine before securing a position at Brown University under an H-1B visa, which allows skilled foreign professionals to work in the US

Despite holding this visa, Alawieh was detained upon arrival without explanation, her family claims. Sorokin responded to the lawsuit on Friday by issuing an order preventing her removal from Massachusetts without at least 48 hours' notice and requiring her presence at a court hearing on Monday.

However, attorneys for Alawieh’s cousin assert that after the judge issued his order, she was nevertheless put on a flight to Paris, where she was scheduled to board a connecting flight to Lebanon. In response, Sorokin has instructed the government to provide a legal and factual account of her removal by Monday morning and to preserve all communications related to her detention and deportation.

Since US President Donald Trump took office, there has been widespread systemic discrimination against pro-Palestinian activists and Middle Eastern individuals, including Arabs and Iranians. Cases such as those of Mahmoud Khalil and Helyeh Doutaghi illustrate the growing trend of targeting individuals based on their political views or ethnic backgrounds.

The administration has faced ongoing legal challenges over its immigration policies, with critics accusing it of sidestepping judicial oversight and enabling discriminatory enforcement practices.