Brown prof., doctor held at US airport, deported after Lebanon travel
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Rhode Island doctor Rasha Alawieh was deported after returning from Lebanon, despite holding a valid H-1B visa.
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An illustration shows a photo of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, top left, surrounded by photos of her colleagues, including Dr. Jasleen Ghuman, center, Dr. Frances Tian, top right, Dr. Alex Hawkins, center right, Dr. Amol Patel, center left, and Dr. Laura Mayeda, bottom left. (X/@UWNephrology)
A Rhode Island doctor was deported after returning from a trip to Lebanon to see her parents. Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, was denied re-entry into the United States at Boston's Logan International Airport on Thursday evening. She has subsequently been put on an aircraft bound for Paris.
Dr. Alawieh, who formerly lived in Providence, has been with Brown Medicine since July of last year. She has been studying and working in the United States for about six years.
The US embassy in Lebanon had issued her an H-1B visa, which is granted to people in specialty professions requiring expertise. Thomas S. Brown, her attorney, stated the visa was valid until mid-2027.
A family member realized she was being deported on Friday and alerted her attorneys, according to a federal court petition filed on her behalf.
The petition states that Alawieh, who also works for Brown Medicine's Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension, is being held "without any justification" or access to legal counsel. The lawsuit states that her visa was authorized by the State Department and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, but it is unknown why she was detained by US Customs and Border Protection.
The deportation comes amid a country-wide crackdown on immigrants by the Trump administration.
George Bayliss, Brown Medicine doctor and associate professor of medicine, told The Herald he and his colleagues were "outraged at Dr. Alawieh’s detention and deportation without due process," explaining that "beyond the affront to democracy, this is wrong on a personal level" since she was on a trip to see her parents.
He also added that her deportation "deprives her of the chance to practice medicine and deprives her patients of her knowledge and skills.”
According to the petition, Alawieh graduated from medical school in 2015 and completed fellowships and residencies at three US colleges while on a J-1 student visa. When she was given an assistant professorship at Brown, she petitioned for and was granted an H-1B visa sponsored by Brown Medicine, according to the document.
Bayliss explained that although her colleagues have been covering for her shifts, that was "no solution," and the petition reads she is an "outstanding academic in Transplant Nephrology, and she is needed at Brown Medicine."
US District Judge Leo Sorokin ordered Friday that Alawieh not be sent outside of Massachusetts without giving the court 48 hours' notice of the relocation and the grounds for it.
According to the Boston Globe, immigration officers received this directive after Alawieh was flown to Paris.
Brown spokesperson Brian Clark expressed that the university is attempting to gather additional information regarding the issue. "We need to be careful about sharing information publicly about an individual's personal circumstances," he noted in an email to The Herald.
