Free Dr. Badar Khan Suri Now!
Send this email to demand our elected officials publicly support Dr. Badar Khan Suri, our neighbor who is being unjustly and unconstitutionally kidnapped and detained hundreds of miles away from his family and legal counsel by ICE.
Dr. Suri is a postdoctoral fellow of conflict resolution and peacebuilding at Georgetown University. On March 17, on his way home from an iftar, the meal that Muslims eat at sunset to break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents in plainclothes and an unmarked car detained Dr. Suri.
Dr. Suri is a legal resident in this country on a visiting scholar visa with no criminal record. He is being targeted as part of President Trump's and Secretary of State Rubio's broader crackdown on Palestinians and others who have been outspoken against Israel's bombardment of Gaza. Not only is the government violating his right to freedom of speech, DHS is also targeting him specifically because he is married to a Palestinian-American woman. The government's arrest and detention of Dr. Suri are a direct and egregious violation of his First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association.
Although Dr. Suri's home residence is in Arlington, VA, he has been moved to several prisons and detention centers including an ICE facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, and is now in a detention center in Alvarado, Texas. At Dr. Suri's hearing on Thursday in Alexandria, VA, the government alleged that Dr. Suri was moved to Texas to prevent overcrowding at the Virginia Detention Center. This is despite the fact that Dr. Suri had a room with a bed to himself in Virginia, while in Texas he “was forced to sleep on the floor of the television room with the TV blaring nonstop and the lights on 24/7.”
Our elected officials have the opportunity to make a difference both in Dr. Khan Suri's case and the broader threat against our immigrant communities and those speaking up for Palestine. Demand that they take meaningful, public action now!
