Key facts
- A U.S. appeals court rejected the Trump administration's effort to re-detain Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri.
- The court ruled that federal immigration law did not prevent a judge from ordering Suri's release.
- Suri, an Indian citizen and postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown, had advocated for Palestinian rights.
- He was arrested in March 2025 as part of a campaign against pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses.
- The ruling was made by a 2-1 panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Suri stated the decision reaffirms faith in the independent judiciary.
A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected an effort by the Trump administration to re-detain a Georgetown University scholar who had advocated for Palestinian rights. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal immigration law did not bar a lower-court judge from ordering Badar Khan Suri's release after he challenged his detention on due process and free speech grounds.
Suri, an Indian citizen and postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown's Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, was arrested in March 2025. The arrest occurred as the Trump administration pursued a campaign to detain and deport foreign nationals engaged in pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses. The appeals court panel, in a 2-1 decision, disagreed with other federal appeals courts that had overturned decisions leading to the release of other pro-Palestinian campus activists.
U.S. Circuit Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, writing for the majority, stated that the court's decision was about whether the government could detain Suri to punish his speech, which is a different question from whether the government could seek to remove him because of his speech. U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III dissented, calling the ruling a loss for the immigration system. Suri, who resides in Virginia with his wife, a Palestinian U.S. citizen, stated that the ruling reaffirms his faith in the independent judiciary. He had been moved to Texas after his arrest and was freed in May 2025 by U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, who found he was likely to succeed in proving his arrest was in retaliation for constitutionally protected speech.