Doctor at Brown University deported to Lebanon despite US judge's order

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON, March 16 (Reuters) - A Rhode Island doctor who is an assistant professor at Brown University's medical school has been deported to Lebanon even though a judge had issued an order blocking the U.S. visa holder's immediate removal from the country, according to court papers.

The expulsion of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, is set to be the focus of a hearing on Monday before a federal judge in Boston, who on Sunday demanded information on whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection had "willfully" disobeyed his order.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said he had received a "detailed and specific" timeline of the events from an attorney working on Alawieh's behalf that raised "serious allegations" about whether his order was violated.

CBP had no immediate comment.

The agency has not said why she was removed. But her expulsion came as Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has sought to sharply restrict border crossing and ramp up immigration arrests.

Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen who lives in Providence, was detained on Thursday after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston after traveling to Lebanon to see relatives, according to a lawsuit filed by her cousin, Yara Chehab.

She had held a visa to be in the United States since 2018, when she first came to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University before then completing a fellowship at the University of Washington and then moving to the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she completed in June.

While in Lebanon, the U.S. consulate issued Alawieh an H-1B visa authorizing her entry into the United States to work at Brown University, the lawsuit said. Such visas are reserved for people from other countries who are employed in specialty occupations.

Despite that visa, CBP detained her at the airport for reasons her family members have still not been provided, according to the lawsuit, which argued her rights were being violated.

In response to the lawsuit, Sorokin on Friday evening issued orders barring Alawieh's removal from Massachusetts without 48 hours' notice to the court and requiring her to be brought to a court hearing on Monday.

Yet according to the cousin's attorneys, after that order was issued, Alawieh was flown to Paris, where she was then set to board a flight for Lebanon that had been scheduled for Sunday.

Sorokin on Sunday directed the government to provide a legal and factual response by Monday morning ahead of the previously scheduled hearing and to preserve all emails, text messages and other documents concerning Alawieh's arrival and removal.