TOI Correspondent from Washington: A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration’s effort to deport Badar Khan Suri, an Indian post-doc fellow at Georgetown University who has been detained by immigration authorities for alleged pro-Hamas activism, saying he should not removed from the US pending the outcome of the legal challenge seeking his release.
Virginia Eastern District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles did not rule on the merits of the deportation case itself but suggested Suri’s habeas corpus needs to be heard first in an order stating he “shall not be removed from the U.S unless and until the Court issues a contrary order.”
Suri’s attorney has said his client was abducted from his apartment in Rosslyn, Virginia, a suburb outside Washington DC, and is incarcerated in distant Louisiana, where the Syria-born Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has also been imprisoned at a different facility.
Khalil’s attorneys too are fighting his deportation, and after accusing authorities of moving their client to a more conservative jurisdiction (Louisiana is a deep red Republican state), they got the case transferred to New Jersey.
The detentions follow a Trump crackdown on liberal campuses where student activists have been protesting and criticizing — both directly and on social media — U.S foreign policy with regards to the Israel-Palestinian issue.
The Trump administration says foreign students, even if they have Green cards and valid visas, are violating terms of their stay with political activism that pose a threat to US national security. Administration officials have warned that many more foreign student activists will be identified and deported.
Free speech advocates maintain the administration’s actions are a violation of the First Amendment, even with regards to foreign scholars, with some recalling campus anti-Vietnam war protests in the 1960s. “Badar Khan Suri’s detention is a clear violation of his constitutional rights, and he must be released,” Virginia Democrat lawmaker Don Beyer said Thursday, adding, “The ‘justification’ given for these violations of Mr. Suri’s right to due process is another violation of the Constitution: a blatant attack on the First Amendment.”
The judicial interventions that are stalling the deportations has enraged President Trump, who says lawyers “endlessly search” for “radical left judges” to thwart the administration’s effort to deport dangerous illegal immigrants, although the crackdown now targets even legal residents.
According to a rough count by legal mavens, Out of 679 active federal district court judges, 384 were appointed by Democratic presidents, and 257 appointed by Republican presidents. In the Appeals Court, out of 179 active judges, 88 were appointed by Democratic presidents, and 89 were appointed by Republican presidents. Six of the nine Supreme Court judges have been appointed by Republican Presidents, including three by Trump.
But the US President and his acolytes, including Elon Musk, are still unhappy and want Roberts to sign off on moves to impeach liberal justices balking at an imperial presidency they are aiming for, where the President’s authority is unquestioned. Roberts, who has suggested the administration can go through with the appeals process rather than target the judges.
In a series of posts, Trump raged that “Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges could very well lead to the destruction of our Country!”
“These people are Lunatics, who do not care, even a little bit, about the repercussions from their very dangerous and incorrect Decisions and Rulings,” Trump fumed, adding that “No District Court Judge, or any Judge, can assume the duties of the President of the United States. Only Crime and Chaos would result.”
Judges are now being openly identified as “Obama judges” “Biden judges” “Bush judges” etc depending on who and in what year they were appointed. Chief Justice John Roberts himself — a Conservative Republican Bush appointee — is under attack from MAGA for not consistently ruling in favor of Trump and resisting the move to impeach liberal judges.
“If Justice Roberts and the United States Supreme Court do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!” Trump warned in one of his posts on Thursday.