A hearing has been postponed for a Rhode Island kidney transplant specialist employed by Brown University Medicine who was refused entry into the U.S. last week and flown out of the country.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin granted the motion to continue the hearing on the grounds that Dr. Rasha Alawieh has changed lawyers and her new attorney needs time to prepare for the hearing. Alawieh’s lawyers also asked that the hearing be postponed because she is no longer in transit but back in Lebanon.
Speaking to reporters at the U.S. District Court in Boston, Alwaieh’s attorney, Stephanie Marzouk, declined to comment on news reports stating the government has accused her client of having Hezbollah-related photos on her phone.
The judge denied reporters access to sealed documents reportedly filed by the Department of Justice, but several media outlets, including The Providence Journal and The Boston Globe, have cited court filings containing the allegations.
In court documents released to reporters Monday morning, the federal government denies that it intentionally ignored a judge’s orders not to deport Alawieh without giving the court 48 hours’ notice. The documents say federal officials with Customs and Border Patrol were unaware of the order before Alawieh was deported.
Marzouk said she will advocate to have her client allowed back into the U.S.
“Our client’s in Lebanon, but we’re not going to stop fighting to get her back in the U.S. to see her patients where she should be, and we’re going to try to make sure the government follows the rule of law,” she said.
Gathered under an arch outside the federal courthouse on Monday, Alawieh’s colleagues characterized the 34-year-old doctor as positive and dedicated to her patients.
“She’s wonderful and cheerful and optimistic; hard-working, highly competent, and kind,” said Dr. Susie Hu, the interim director for the division of kidney disease and hypertension at Brown Medicine.
Dr. Douglas Shemin said Alawieh “took care of everybody, as we all do, who walked in the door. Men, women, people of every faith, people of every background.”
Shemin and Hu said there are only three doctors in the region with Alawieh’s specialty. They said the other two will now have to take on the dozens of patients Alawieh worked with each week.
Alawieh had been employed at Brown Medicine as a doctor and assistant professor since July 2024. She was on a temporary H1-B visa, according to court filings, but had been in the U.S. since 2018, where she was on a variety of medical fellowships. Previously she was on a J-1 visa.
This story was originally published by The Public’s Radio.
