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Judge: Customs To Answer For Deporting RI Doctor

The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse is located in Boston's waterfront Seaport District.
The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse is located in Boston's waterfront Seaport District. A federal judge in Boston has ordered Customs officials into court to answer why they defied his order, deporting a RI doctor Friday.
The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse is located in Boston’s waterfront Seaport District. A federal judge in Boston has ordered Customs officials into court to answer why they defied his order, deporting a RI doctor Friday.

BOSTON, MA — A federal judge has ordered U.S. Customs and Border officials to a hearing at 10 a.m. to answer allegations they “willfully” disobeyed his order, deporting Rhode Island Doctor Dr. Rasha Alawieh, The Providence Journal reports.

Friday, U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin, in Massachusetts ordered U.S. Customs and Border officials not to deport Alawieh without 48 hours notice to the Court so that he could review the case. Nontheless, Alaweie was removed that night.

“Petitioner alleges that Customs and Border Patrol received actual notice of the Court’s Order described above and nonetheless thereafter “willfully” disobeyed the Order by sending her out of the United States.  These allegations are supported by a detailed and specific timeline in an under oath affidavit filed by an attorney.  The government shall respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events,” according to Sorokin’s order. The response was due at 8:30 a.m., prior to the 10 a.m. hearing.

Alawieh, specializing in transplant nephrology at Brown Medicine’s Division of Kidney Disease & Hypertension, and affiliated with Rhode Island Hospital, had been returning from a trip to Lebanon when she was detained at Logan Airport, according to a B Brown Daily Herald report. The doctor is a  Lebanese national and holds a H1B visa that allows her to live and work in the U.S. as a professional at a U.S. university. 

Sunday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, called on the Trump administration to immediately re-admit Alawieh.

“We call on the Trump administration to immediately readmit Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who was wrongly deported despite possessing a valid visa and despite a court order protecting her from deportation.
“As a U.S. resident for six years and a doctor working for the Division of Kidney Disease & Hypertension at Brown Medicine, Dr. Alawieh played a critical role in treating countless patients who needed treatment by a specialist.
“Deporting lawful immigrants like Dr. Alawieh without any basis undermines the rule of law and reinforces suspicion that our immigration system is turning into an anti-Muslim, white supremacist institution that seeks to expel and turn away as many Muslims and people of color as possible.”
The reported defiance of a judicial order by the executive branch is the latest in what RI Congressmen have pointed out as the Trump Administration’s disregard for the separation of powers set in the Constitution, including ignoring law and court rulings, and Congressional budget powers.
Rob Borkowski
Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at editor@warwickpost.com with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.

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