The Palestinian spokesman’s lawyer’s attorney, Suri Yousef, argues that the president is using a federal law to try to silence dissent

The professor’s lawyers say that the Trump administration is using the same federal provision to try to remove that individual as they did in the case of the Columbia student.

The attorneys said that the two had faced harassment and threats due to speaking out in support of Palestinians and have been featured on sites dedicated to defaming academics and students involved in pro-Palestine movement.

The professor told the AP that the student wasn’t involved in political activism on the college campus and was focused on teaching.

According to the Times, Saleh’s father, Ahmed Yousef, was formerly an adviser to a Hamas leader but left his position over a decade ago and has publicly criticized Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel. Yousef told the Times that Suri is not involved in any “political activism.”

He’s in the U.S. under a J-1 visa, which according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is for people who take part in approved programs of teaching, studying, training and research. In 2020, Suri completed his Ph.D. in Peace & Conflict Studies from the Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Jamia Millia Islamia, a public research university in New Delhi.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia said in a statement on the case that it was clear that President Trump was trying to silence dissent. “That is patently unconstitutional.”

His lawyers deny that. Attorneys with the Virginia ACLU have said in court filings that the government is retaliating against Suri for his and his wife’s support for Palestinians and for the couple’s ties to Gaza.

The arrest of a Georgetown University professor and the smearing of far-right activists by the US’s foreign policy: A response to a lawsuit by the Department of Justice

A Georgetown University professor is still being held by immigration officials, despite a judge’s order blocking their deportation.

The Georgetown University professor was arrested by the DHS agents outside his home in Virginia on Monday. The secretary of state saw him as a threat to the US’s foreign policy interests and that is why he ordered his arrest. The petition was obtained and first reported by Politico, and it states that the man has been smeared by far-right groups.

The agents quickly took him into custody in front of his wife, Heilman said. There was no real explanation about where he was going, what was occurring or why.

There were never any charges made against her. But in just under 72 hours, he has been moved from one immigration center to the next, eventually landing in Louisiana where he is currently held. Both the speed and obscure nature of Suri’s arrest “is really alarming,” Heilman said.

Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and and one of Khalil’s lawyers, said the use of this policy by the federal government is “largely unprecedented, save for ugly historical precedents, including the Red Scare and McCarthyism,” the Columbia Spectator reported.

Momodou Taal, a Cornell University student also reportedly targeted by DHS, was involved in political activism. In fact, Taal had recently sued the Trump administration, alleging that he fears “government retaliation” for engaging in “constitutionally protected expression critical of US foreign policy and supportive of Palestinian human rights.” Taal, a British citizen, had previously expressed fears that his student visa would be suspended due to the university suspending him and other activists.

DHS did not respond to The Verge’s request for comment. DHS gave no further evidence that she was promoting Hamas propaganda on social media. She also said that Suri has “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas.”

Taal’s attorneys filed a letter in federal court on Friday stating that they were contacted by the Department of Justice on Thursday night to inform them that they were going to take Taal into ICE custody.

Taal’s attorneys are not aware of any other instance in which the department has tried to start an NTA through the Department of Justice in response to a non-citizen filing a lawsuit.