New Delhi: Badar Khan Suri, an Indian postdoctoral researcher at Georgetown University, has been released from a US immigration detention facility in Texas following a federal court order issued Wednesday. Suri had spent nearly two months in custody after being detained in March at his Virginia home over alleged links to Hamas, a group classified as a terrorist organisation by the US government.
His arrest, under the Trump-era immigration policy, followed the revocation of his student visa due to his wife’s family ties to Gaza. Authorities also accused him of expressing support for Hamas on social media. However, no formal charges were filed.
After his release, Suri spoke publicly for the first time, calling his detention “inhumane.” In an interview with NBC News, he described being held in chains during his initial days in custody. “They made a sub-human out of me,” he said. “For the first seven, eight days, I even missed my shadow. I was chained — my ankles, my wrist, my body.”
Detention took family toll
Suri also criticised the unsanitary conditions in the detention centre and a lack of response from facility officials when he raised concerns. He expressed deep worry for his children’s well-being during his absence. “My eldest is nine, and my twins are five. My son was crying and needed mental health support,” he said. “Once I hug them, things will be fine.”
US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered Suri’s release, citing his constitutional rights and saying he posed no public threat. The judge said that speech critical of Israel’s military actions or expressing support for Palestine may qualify as protected political speech under the First Amendment—regardless of immigration status.
Suri’s legal team argued that the case was based more on his wife’s family background than any concrete actions by Suri himself. His release is the latest among a number of court-ordered decisions involving detained international students tied to pro-Palestinian activism. Critics have condemned the arrests as an attack on academic freedom and political expression. The Center for Constitutional Rights said the ruling added to “mounting legal defeats for the Trump administration’s politicised immigration enforcement.”
