Brown University Professor Rasha Alawieh was deported to Lebanon on Monday by US authorities. This development comes amid the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestine protestors at university campuses.
As per US authorities, the Rhode Island doctor was deported after "sympathetic photos and videos” of Hassan Nasrallah, a former leader of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, were found in her phone.
"Last month, Rasha Alawieh traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah— a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree. Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP officers, as well as her support of Nasrallah," reads the official statement issued by the Department of Homeland Security.
"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," they added further.
As per Reuters, Dr Alawieh told authorities that she had attended Nasrallah's funeral, as she supported the leader from a "religious perspective" as a Shia Muslim.
White House's 'Bye Bye Rasha Post'
Sharing the statement issued by Homeland Security, the White House posted two tweets on social media platform X. The first tweet said - "Bye-Bye Rasha"
Who Is Dr Rasha Alawieh?
Rasha Alawieh is a 34-year-old Lebanese citizen who was working in the US through an H-1B Visa. The kidney transplant specialist was detained on Thursday at International Airport in Boston after returning from a trip to Lebanon to see family.
Alawieh, who has worked and lived in Rhode Island, was detained for 36 hours. She was detained just before she was to start work at Brown University as an assistant professor of medicine.
