US immigration authorities detained a Georgetown University researcher on a "work-study exchange" visa on Monday evening, according to his lawyer, who quickly filed a lawsuit demanding his immediate release, according to the Washington Post.

The researcher's lawyers told the Washington Post that "Badr Khan Suri, an Indian citizen who is married to a Palestinian woman (born in the United States), was detained outside his home in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., by Department of Homeland Security agents. Suri was then taken to a detention center in central Virginia before being transferred to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, where Palestinian Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil is being held, "where he is now awaiting an immigration court date, according to his lawyer."

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin claimed on Channel X that Suri was spreading "Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media." She also alleged that Suri—who was admitted to the country on a J-1 visa designated for researchers and professionals working for a US employer—had connections to a senior Hamas advisor. Suri's attorney, Hassan Ahmad, stated that he committed no crime.

It's worth noting that the Syrian's arrest came a week after Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident, who was also transferred to Louisiana. President Donald Trump had accused Khalil and other pro-Palestinian activists of engaging in "terrorist, anti-Semitic, and anti-American activities," but a federal judge temporarily halted the deportation.

Federal officials have intensified arrests and detentions of other immigrants with legal status in the United States, as Trump attempts to implement a broader crackdown on immigration that he promised during his campaign. Lawyers for the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech and assembly, have argued that Khalil's arrest—on charges that federal officials have linked solely to his activism—is unconstitutional and could have a chilling effect on free speech. In an opinion piece published in The Guardian this week from his detention in Louisiana, Khalil described himself as a "political prisoner," saying, "My arrest was a direct result of exercising my right to free speech, advocating for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza."

Trump said on his Truth Social platform last week that Khalil's arrest was "the first of many to come."

"We know that there are more students at Columbia University and other universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, and anti-American activities, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it," the US president said in his post.

Suri's arrest appears to be based on the same provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that federal authorities used to try to deport Khalil. McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, told Channel X that "Suri's activities and presence in the United States made him subject to removal" under this obscure, rarely cited provision, which gives the Secretary of State the authority to deport any individual whose presence in the United States would have "potential adverse foreign policy consequences." McLaughlin added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio made this determination in Suri's case on March 15.

Georgetown University spokeswoman Megan Dubyak said in a statement that Suri "has been granted an official visa" to the United States to continue his research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the university expects "the legal system to resolve this matter fairly."

"We are not aware of his involvement in any illegal activity, and we have not received any reason for his detention," she said. "We support the rights of our community members to freely and openly question, debate, and discuss, even if the underlying ideas are difficult, controversial, or objectionable."

According to his bio at Georgetown University, Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Foreign Service, studying what makes cooperation more difficult among religiously diverse communities and what can be done to resolve these difficulties. He has traveled across conflict zones in India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and the Middle East. He wrote his doctoral dissertation in 2020 at a college in India on state-building in Afghanistan and Iraq.

According to Politico, Suri's attorney, Hassan Ahmad, argued in the lawsuit — which is not available on the court's website — that Suri was detained because of his wife's Palestinian heritage and the couple's political beliefs about U.S. policy toward Israel.

Narmin Arastoo, another of Suri's lawyers, described Suri's detention as "part of the Trump regime's broader racist attacks on immigrant communities. No one, citizen or non-citizen, should live in fear of being ripped from their family."