According to a court petition filed on her behalf, the doctor and professor were deported after returning from a trip to Lebanon, despite having a valid US visa.
Dr. Lasha Alawie, an assistant professor of Brown Medicine, had an H-1B visa when she traveled to her home country to visit her family, according to a petition filed in federal court by her cousin of her situation.
Court documents claimed that when she returned to the United States at the end of last week, she was detained for 36 hours at Boston Logan International Airport this weekend before being sent back to Lebanon in violation of a federal judge’s order to halt her deportation.
In her first petition on Friday, she allegedly claimed that customs and border security had detained her “without justification,” during which Alawie was unconceptable and had no access to her attorney.
“The CBP refused to provide information on reasons for her detention and prompt removal and also refused to confirm the flight,” the petition said.
On the same day, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered that Alawier should not be removed from the state without 48 hours of notice and reason, in order to “give the court time to consider the matter.”
Alawie’s lawyer confirmed that she is now back in Lebanon, but declined to comment further.
Customs and Border Patrol said in an emailed statement that “the aliens that arrive will bear the burden of establishing acceptability for the United States.”
“Our CBP executives adhere to strict protocols to identify and suspend threats using strict screening, reviews, strong law enforcement partnerships and sharp testing skills to keep threats out of the country.”
A notice of violation of the court order filed Saturday said that the CBP “actually notified of this court’s order and intentionally refused this court’s order.” He also requested an order to return Alawier to Massachusetts immediately and schedule an emergency hearing as soon as possible.
Alawie, a Lebanese citizen, had been issued an H-1B visa for employment in Brown Medicine, the petition said. She received her medical degree from the American University of Beirut in 2015 and completed her residency in 2018 at the American University Beirut University Medical Center.
Since taking on the J-1 visa in 2018, Alawie has completed her program at Ohio State University, Washington University and Yalewaterbury Internal Medicine Program and has begun her assistant professor at Brown.
“The Brown School of Nephrology at Brown Medicine is very struggling with this treatment of its colleagues,” the court petition said. “She is an assistant professor and has serious responsibility. Her colleagues have covered for her, but that’s not a solution.”
Brown University spokesman Brian Clark said in a statement that the university “wanes to learn more about what happened, but we need to be aware of publicly sharing information about individuals’ personal circumstances.”
The next hearing is scheduled for Monday morning.
