US Confirms Doctor at Brown University Deported to Lebanon Despite Judge’s Order

Dr. Rasha Alawieh was deported to Lebanon.

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U.S. officials have confirmed that a doctor who was working at Brown University was deported despite a federal judge ordering that she not be removed from the country.

U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin on March 14 ordered the government not to move Dr. Rasha Alawieh from Massachusetts without 48 hours of advance notice, but the doctor was subsequently deported to Lebanon, officials told the judge.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers “did not receive notice of the Court’s Order from their legal counsel until after Dr. Alawieh ‘had already departed the United States,’” Sorokin said in a March 17 electronic order, quoting from a government filing that has not been placed on the court docket.

CBP said that “at no time would CBP not take a court order seriously or fail to abide by a court’s order,” the judge said.

CBP did not respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CBP’s parent agency, said on social media platform X that Alawieh recently traveled to Lebanon for the funeral of a terrorist.

“A visa is a privilege not a right—glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is commonsense security,” the agency said.

The order came in a case brought seeking to block Alawieh’s deportation. The petition for habeas corpus filed by Yara Chehab on behalf of the doctor has not been made public.

After Sorokin issued the order blocking the doctor’s removal, the judge was notified by the petitioner of the deportation.

“Petitioner alleges that Customs and Border Patrol received actual notice of the Court’s Order described above and nonetheless thereafter ‘willfully’ disobeyed the Order by sending her out of the United States,” according to the docket.

“These allegations are supported by a detailed and specific timeline in an under oath affidavit filed by an attorney. The government shall respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events,” the judge said.

The government filed papers, which have not been made public, in response by the March 17 deadline.

Several attorneys for Chehab also asked the court to withdraw, stating in part that “as a result of further diligence, they no longer represent the petitioner.”

The judge granted the motion to withdraw and a motion to reschedule a hearing that had been set for Monday that was lodged by the petitioner’s remaining attorney. The attorney said counsel needs more time to prepare for the hearing.

Sorokin said the government now has until March 24 to supplement its filings in the case. Chehab’s attorneys have until March 31 to respond to the government’s request to dismiss the petition.

The back and forth came after the government recently deported some illegal immigrants. Lawyers who sued over the pending removal said that the deportations appeared to violate a court order, although the White House has said they did not.