Professor deported to Lebanon supported Hezbollah leader, US says

US visa holder Dr Rasha Alawieh was removed after US officials found photos of Hezbollah figure on her phone

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Demonstrators protest the deportation of Dr Rasha Alawieh of Brown University at the State House in Providence, Rhode Island. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:28am, 18 Mar 2025Updated: 9:25am, 18 Mar 2025

US Homeland Security officials on Monday said that a doctor from Lebanon who was deported over the weekend despite having a US visa “openly admitted” to supporting a Hezbollah leader and attending his funeral.

The department’s statement, posted on social media, provides a possible explanation for Dr Rasha Alawieh’s deportation, which has sparked widespread alarm, especially after a federal judge ordered that she not be removed until a hearing could be held. Government lawyers have said customs officials did not get word until after Alawieh was sent back to Lebanon.

“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,” Homeland Security said in its statement.

It’s the latest deportation of a foreign-born person with a US visa, after Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead protests of the Gaza war at Columbia University, was arrested and a doctoral student’s visa was revoked. The Trump administration also transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations.

Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Photo: AFP

Stephanie Marzouk, Alawieh’s lawyer, said she would not stop fighting to get the 34-year-old doctor back in the US, “to see her patients where she should be”.