Dozens Gather at Rhode Island Statehouse to Protest Alawieh Deportation

Dozens of Rhode Islanders turned out at the Statehouse Monday night to protest the deportation of a Rhode Island Kidney doctor detained at Logan Airport last week.

Although it’s been a mostly quiet year in terms of campus-related protests, the deportation of Brown affiliate Dr. Rasha Alawieh mobilized the university’s community to the state capitol. Brown University sociology professor Timmons Roberts said he was upset at the way Alawieh was sent back to Lebanon despite a judge’s order requiring her to remain in the United States until a hearing on Monday.

“The court orders matter, they should have stopped the plane and brought her back to the gate and kept her in the United States,” he said.

Roberts said he was concerned that universities were not stepping up more to defend against deportations like Alawieh’s, and he was concerned about what this was doing to international members of Brown’s community.

“Their freedom of speech really is at stake here,” he said.

Rafi Ash, a junior at Brown, agreed that the deportations have caused an atmosphere of fear in Brown’s international community.
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“It’s designed to stoke fear from the Trump administration,” said Ash. “This started with deportations at Columbia University and now is spreading. I think everywhere is preparing as if their school could be next.”

However, Ash said these deportations may have the opposite effect.

“I think the complete affront to the right to protest has, in fact, reinvigorated protests on campus,” he said.

According to US Customs and Border Protection officials, Alawieh was denied entry into the U.S. at Boston’s Logan International Airport because she had attended the funeral of assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hilton Beckham, a spokesperson for the agency, said in an emailed statement that “Officers act swiftly to deny entry to those who glorify terrorist organizations, advocate violence, or openly support terrorist leaders and commemorate their deaths.”

Golnaz Fakhimi, an attorney for Dr. Alawieh, declined to comment on the allegations against her client.

This story was reported by The Public's Radio.