Rhode Island’s top elected officials are keeping a close eye on the Trump administration’s effort to deport a Lebanese transplant physician with ties to Brown University.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh was detained at Boston Logan International Airport last week and sent back to Lebanon on the grounds that she may be sympathetic with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
In court filings, the Justice Department alleged that Dr. Alawieh, a Shia Muslim, recently attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the spiritual leader of Hezbollah who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year. According to the court documents, Alawieh had “sympathetic photos and videos” among the deleted items on her phone.
“I think it’s certainly enough to raise concerns about whether her visa would be maintained,” said U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner. “But those concerns should be raised through the regular judicial process.”
“There is not a right for a foreign individual to have a visa to the United States if they support terrorist organizations,” Magaziner said.
But U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said sympathy for Hezbollah is not necessarily grounds for deportation.
“It’s bad judgment,” Whitehouse said. “But that alone, in and of itself, is not.”
All four members of the state’s Congressional delegation and Rhode Island’s governor shared their views with The Public’s Radio on Monday after attending the official opening of Track 15, a new food court in the old Providence train station.
All of them agree a judge should make the determination whether Dr. Alawieh’s private political views constitute a threat to the United States and, therefore, grounds for deportation.
But they all worried the Trump administration sought to circumvent due process by refusing to acknowledge a court order that she be given a court hearing.
“It does appear that there was a valid court order in place and that she was deported nonetheless,” said Whitehouse.
Whitehouse said the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which he serves, is scheduled to discuss whether to push back against the White House in this and other cases where officials appear not to be fully deferring to the authority of federal judges.
To be effective, any such pushback would also need support from Senate Republicans, who are in the majority.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public statement rebuking Pres. Trump for calling for the impeachment of a federal judge in a different case. That case involved the deportation of some 300 Venezuelan migrants alleged to be part of a violent gang. The Trump administration sent them to El Salvador, despite a clear order from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to turn the planes around.
On Truth Social, Trump described the judge as an unelected “troublemaker and agitator” and called for his impeachment.
Roberts fired back: “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
For his part, U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo said, “I’m worried about the Trump Administration’s compliance with the law.”
The apparent lack of due process worries U.S. Sen. Jack Reed too, but he insisted it’s up to the courts to sort it out.
“This is a matter before the courts, and we recognize the separation of powers,” Reed said. “I don’t think President Trump does, but we recognize it.”
Reed noted that lawful residents who are non-citizens are entitled to the same protections enjoyed by American citizens.
“That’s the American system,” he said.
By cutting corners, Reed insisted the Trump administration appears to be undermining that system.
Even so, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said the state will comply with future deportation efforts, within the bounds of the law.
“If we have people here that create an unsafe situation, and I’m not saying that’s the case that’s true, we’re going to cooperate with ICE,” McKee said.
“But at the same point in time profiling is against our Constitution and certainly against my position as governor. So we’ll make sure we protect people’s rights but at the same time keep people safe,” he said.
The key thing, all of them agree, is to abide by the rule of law.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s comments about whether sympathy for Hezbollah is grounds for deportation. An earlier version incorrectly characterized Whitehouse’s position.
