For more than two years, Badar Khan Suri was a little-known postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University trying to land a book project, colleagues and family say.

The 41-year-old Indian national, who was on a J-1 visa for academic and exchange visitors, spent much of his time researching minority rights in his home country, visiting the campus mosque with his wife and three young children, and teaching a class on his research, they say.

But earlier this year, two groups that oppose campus antisemitism published articles about Suri and his wife’s support for Palestinians and their family ties to Hamas: His father-in-law was an adviser to the group’s former political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

The Department of Homeland Security detained Suri soon after, alleging that his presence in the United States could have “adverse foreign policy consequences.” A DHS spokesperson accused him of spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism, and pointed to his “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist.” Suri hasn’t been charged with any crime, nor has his wife, who is a U.S. citizen, and the government has not released any evidence in the case.

After more than a month in a detention facility in Texas, Suri had an initial immigration hearing this week as the government seeks to deport him.

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