ARLINGTON, Va. – Senator Barbara Favola (SD-40) urges Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to reconsider the eligibility of release process for her constituent, Georgetown postdoctoral fellow Dr. Badar Khan Suri. Dr. Suri is legally residing in the United States on a J-1 visa. Unfortunately, Dr. Suri was unjustly detained on March 17, 2025 and has since been moved to various detention centers far away from his Arlington home. He is currently being held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, 1,300 miles away from his wife and three young children. Dr. Suri has been classified as a high-risk, high-threat custody detainee despite having no criminal record. This classification is completely out of touch with Dr. Suri’s noted behavior. According to the Dean of Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, he is “not aware that Dr. Suri has engaged in any illegal activity, nor has he posed a threat to the security of our campus. He has been focused on completing his research.”

Senator Favola stated “It is my understanding that Dr. Suri is a lawfully present visiting scholar with a clean record and no pending criminal charges. The obscure immigration statute cited for allowing his arrest does not mandate detention and is a glaring abuse of power by the Trump Administration. This unwarranted detention underscores an alarming pattern of the Trump Administration neglecting due process laws required by the United States Constitution. The vast majority of Americans believe in due process and understand it is a cornerstone of our democracy. We must defend and protect the civil rights of every individual residing in the United States, including those residing temporarily. Otherwise, the civil rights of every one of us will be in jeopardy.”