A kidney transplant surgeon, highly trained, highly skilled, highly in demand, in the US on a valid H1-B visa, went to visit her family in Lebanon. When she returned to Boston’s Logan airport (she works at Brown University in Providence), she was detained and told she was being deported. (Reasons? We don’t need no stinking reasons!) While her plane was on the tarmac, a judge ordered her deportation halted — but the plane took off anyway.
Brown Medicine doctor deported despite federal court order. What we know.
Despite. A. Federal. Court. Order.
A federal court order that would have halted the immediate deportation of a Rhode Island doctor was issued Friday evening while the doctor’s departing plane sat on the tarmac at Boston Logan International Airport, said a family friend and colleague.
But the plane ultimately took off, carrying Dr. Rasha Alawieh out of the country for reasons still unclear to her family, her lawyer and Brown Medicine colleagues such as Dr. Basma Merhi.
“They did not do anything to stop the plane,” said Merhi, who was learning details of the event through information relayed by Alawieh family members. “So, clearly, they wanted to deport her regardless of if there was a judge’s order or not. She didn’t do anything wrong.”
The court was acting on a complaint filed by her cousin:
“Despite repeated requests from Dr. Alawieh’s family members and a volunteer attorney, CBP refuses to provide any justification for their detention, refuses to allow the attorneys to talk to Dr. Alawieh, and refuses to provide assurances that Dr. Alawieh will not be deported to Lebanon.”
The complaint also noted that
Alawieh had graduated from medical school in 2015 and held fellowships and residencies at three U.S. universities.
Her visa was valid until 2027.
This follows immediately after another deportation that ignored a court order: Trump admin deports hundreds of migrants, despite judge's order stopping removal.
We’ve been wondering for a while now whether how long it would take Trump and his gang would to ignore court orders that they didn’t like. Any further questions?
Edit — NYT says she is akdney transplant specialist, but not specifically a surgeon (posted as a correction to their story). I'm at the airport on a cellphone right now, so I can't give a link.
