By OLIVIA DIAZ and BEN FINLEY, Related Press/Report for America

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The Trump administration advised a federal decide Thursday {that a} Georgetown College scholar’s lawsuit in opposition to deportation ought to be moved from Virginia, the place it was filed, to Texas, the place he’s jailed over allegations of “spreading Hamas propaganda.”

U.S. District Decide Patricia Tolliver Giles appeared skeptical of the federal government’s request, which might contain her dismissing the case in Virginia. She raised issues {that a} dismissal in her court docket would void her order in March to maintain Badar Khan Suri within the U.S. whereas his First Modification case performs out.

David Byerley, a Justice Division lawyer, advised Giles that he would want to speak to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement concerning the decide’s concern. Byerley stated he didn’t see why ICE wouldn’t honor her order in opposition to deporting Khan Suri whereas the case is refiled in a Texas federal court docket.

“OK,” the decide stated. “I’m not going to rely on that. But thank you.”

Mapheze Saleh, spouse of arrested and detained Georgetown College scholar Badar Khan Suri, speaks at a information convention following her husband’s listening to at Federal District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

Mapheze Saleh, at heart, spouse of arrested and detained Georgetown College scholar Badar Khan Suri, attends a information convention following her husband’s listening to on the Federal District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

Maxine Columbia, proper, of Alexandria, Va., rallies in assist of Badar Khan Suri and in opposition to the Georgetown College scholar’s arrest and detention, exterior his courthouse listening to, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

Anita Martineau, of Arlington, Va., left, and her daughter Marisa Martineau, heart, rally in assist of Georgetown College scholar Badar Khan Suri, in opposition to his arrest and detention, earlier than a information convention following his listening to exterior of the courthouse, on the Federal District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

Dana Gardiner, left, and her daughter Andrea Cale, of Alexandria, Va., rally in assist of Georgetown College scholar Badar Khan Suri, in opposition to his arrest and detention, earlier than a information convention following his listening to exterior of the courthouse, on the Federal District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

A supporter of Badar Khan Suri holds an indication saying “It’s the 1984 George Orwell Warned Us About!,” whereas attending a rally in opposition to the Georgetown College scholar’s arrest and detention, exterior of the courthouse, on the Federal District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

Mapheze Saleh, spouse of arrested and detained Georgetown College scholar Badar Khan Suri, speaks at a information convention following her husband’s listening to at Federal District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

Mapheze Saleh, spouse of arrested and detained Georgetown College scholar Badar Khan Suri, speaks at a information convention following her husband’s listening to at Federal District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

Mapheze Saleh, spouse of arrested and detained Georgetown College scholar Badar Khan Suri, speaks at a information convention following her husband’s listening to at Federal District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Mapheze Saleh, spouse of arrested and detained Georgetown College scholar Badar Khan Suri, speaks at a information convention following her husband’s listening to at Federal District Courtroom for the Japanese District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Could 1, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)

Develop

In a authorities submitting earlier than the listening to, U.S. attorneys argued that Khan Suri’s attorneys filed his swimsuit in Virginia after he was already taken out of state. They stated submitting his case in Texas is “relatively straightforward application of well-settled law.”

The Trump administration stated it rapidly moved Khan Suri from a facility in Farmville, Virginia, due to overcrowding to a detention heart in Louisiana after which Texas.

However the decide appeared skeptical of the federal government’s overcrowding declare. She requested the U.S. to supply particulars concerning the variety of open beds in Farmville on the time of Khan Suri’s arrest in addition to the quantity of people that’ve been transferred due to overcrowding.

Khan Suri’s attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union advised the decide that after in Texas, Khan Suri slept on the ground of an overcrowded detention heart for in any case the primary few weeks. Nonetheless, they stated, he now has his personal cell in Texas.

Khan Suri’s attorneys stated the true motive he was moved to Texas was to carry the case earlier than a extra conservative decide. The lawyer, Vishal Agraharkar, accused the federal government of what’s usually referred to as “forum shopping.”

Not like the U.S. District Courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, federal district courts in Texas and western Louisiana are dominated by Republican-appointed judges. Win or lose, appeals of such instances go to the reliably conservative fifth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals.

The fifth Circuit is one in all 13 federal appellate courts across the nation and has 17 full-time judges. Twelve had been appointed by Republican presidents, together with six by former President Donald Trump.

Agraharkar’s statements earlier than the decide in Alexandria had been echoed by one other lawyer for Khan Suri, Hassan Ahmad, exterior the courtroom after Thursday’s listening to.

“There is a reason why the detention facilities exist there,” Ahmad stated, including, “This kind of rigged game has to stop.”

Ahmad was amongst a bunch of people that gathered on the courthouse to point out assist. They included Khan Suri’s spouse, Georgetown college students and college and U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat who represents the northern Virginia district the place Khan Suri lives.

Khan Suri’s lawsuit was filed shortly after masked, plain-clothed officers arrested him on March 17 exterior his condo complicated in Arlington, Virginia.

His attorneys say he was unconstitutionally arrested and jailed due to his spouse’s connection to Gaza. He and his spouse, Mapheze Saleh, have been focused as a result of Saleh’s father labored with the Hamas-backed Gazan authorities for greater than a decade however earlier than Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Khan Suri’s attorneys say.

The ACLU stated within the memo that Khan Suri hardly knew the daddy, Ahmed Yousef.

In accordance with the U.S. authorities, Khan Suri has undisputed household ties to the terrorist group, which Khan Suri “euphemistically refers to as ‘the government of Gaza.’”

Khan Suri’s arrest additionally stems from his social media posts concerning the conflict in Gaza, through which he expressed assist of Palestinian individuals. Homeland Safety Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on the social platform X that Khan Suri was accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media” and was decided to be deportable.

The ACLU has argued that arrests on such grounds violated his First Modification rights.

Khan Suri, an Indian citizen, got here to the U.S. in 2022 by means of a J-1 visa, working at Georgetown as a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow. He and Saleh have three kids: a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old twins.

Earlier than his arrest, he taught a course on majority and minority human rights in South Asia, in response to court docket data. The filings stated he hoped to turn into a professor and embark on a profession in academia.

Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.

Initially Printed: Could 1, 2025 at 6:49 PM EDT