A federal judge in Massachusetts is asking the federal government to explain why it detained a Brown University professor at Boston Logan Airport despite having a valid visa authorizing her to enter the country to work at the university.
And the judge, Leo Sorokin, asked federal officials to explain why they apparently violated a court order to keep the professor, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, in Massachusetts.
Alawieh, an assistant professor of medicine at the Rhode Island university who works in the Division of Kidney Disease & Hypertension, had traveled to Lebanon to visit her parents and was denied re-entry to the U.S. on Thursday at Logan Airport, The Boston Globe reported.
After being detained at Logan for roughly 36 hours, Alawieh was deported, a lawyer representing her said in a court filing. Alawieh was flown to Paris and then taken back to Lebanon, the Globe reported.
But Sorokin had ordered Alawieh to remain in Massachusetts and required the government to give the court 48 hours’ notice of the move and the reason for it. He gave federal officials until 8:30 a.m. Monday to “respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events.”
Sorokin set a hearing for 10:30 a.m. Monday where the government was to explain the basis for Alawieh’s detention. He ordered the government to “preserve all of the documents bearing on Dr. Alawieh’s arrival and removal since the issuance of the visa described in the Petition including emails and text messages.”
In a statement provided to WCVB, Hilton Beckham, assistant public affairs commissioner for the US Customs and Border Patrol, said, “arriving aliens bear the burden of establishing admissibility to the United States. Our CBP officers adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats, using rigorous screening, vetting, strong law enforcement partnerships, and keen inspectional skills to keep threats out of the country. CBP is committed to protecting the United States from national security threats.”
