A federal judge has ordered U.S. Customs and Border officials to respond Monday at a hearing before him to allegations they “willfully” disobeyed his order not to deport a Rhode Island doctor until he could review her case.
On Friday U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin, in Massachusetts, issued an order that Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, who had been detained at Logan Airport on Thursday after returning from visiting family in Lebanon, not be deported without giving the court 48 hours notice.
Despite his order, the Brown Medicine kidney doctor and Lebanese citizen departed for Paris Friday evening. Alawieh arrived back in Lebanon Sunday morning, said a friend and colleague.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a Brown Medicine doctor who was recently deported to Lebanon, despite a federal court order.
U.S. Customs and Border Protections responds to deportation of Dr. Alawieh
On Sunday evening, for the first time the incident began Thursday and ignited a wave of outrage on the part of Alawieh supporters, Hilton Beckham, the assistant commissioner of public affairs for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), issued a statement regarding the case.
Beckham said: “Arriving aliens bear the burden of establishing admissibility to the United States. Our CBP officers adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats, using rigorous screening, vetting, strong law enforcement partnerships, and keen inspectional skills to keep threats out of the country. CBP is committed to protecting the United States from national security threats.”
Alawieh was in the U.S. on a valid H-1B visa
Thomas S. Brown, a lawyer who handles immigration and visa issues for doctors affiliated with Brown Medicine, said Alawieh was returning to the U.S. on a valid H-1B visa she had recently acquired at the American consulate in Lebanon.
The H-1B visa allows employers like Brown Medicine to sponsor highly skilled foreign citizens to work in “specialty occupations.”
Alawieh, who had studied and worked in the United States for six years, and in Rhode Island since last July, worked at Rhode Island Hospital evaluating potential kidney transplant recipients and followed the progress of those patients after their procedures, said Dr. George Bayliss, the transplant division’s medical director.
Alawieh was deported despite a court order to keep her in the country
On Friday, while Alawieh remained detained at Logan, her cousin, Yara Chehab, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court, Massachusetts against officials in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
In the complaint, Chehab said federal authorities had unlawfully detained her cousin “without any justification and without permitting [her] access to their counsel.”
In a subsequent motion filed Saturday, Alawieh’s lawyers alleged “that Customs and Border Patrol received actual notice of the court’s order [giving the court 48 notice before any deportation] and nonetheless thereafter ‘willfully’ disobeyed the order by sending her out of the United States.”
“These allegations,” Judge Sorokin said Sunday in his order “are supported by a detailed and specific timeline in an under oath affidavit filed by an attorney.”
Judge Sorokin orders officials into court to answer for the deportation
Sorokin ordered that federal authorities “shall respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events. This response is also due by 8:30 a.m. Monday March 17, 2025, so that it is available to the court and the petitioner in advance of the hearing on Monday.”
The hearing is set for 10 a.m. at the John J. Moakley Courthouse in Boston.
Alawieh’s deportation comes amid growing reports of the Trump Administration detaining people who are returning to the United States and hold green cards and visas.
Her supporters have scheduled a protest for Monday at 6 p.m. outside the State House.
Contact Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Judge orders customs officials into Brown Medicine doctor’s deportation
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