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Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a 34-year-old kidney specialist and assistant professor at Brown University, has been deported to Lebanon in what appears to be a direct violation of a federal court order, The Crustian Daily reports.
Alawieh, who legally resided in the U.S. under an active H-1B visa valid through 2027, was detained by Customs and Border Protection at Boston Logan Airport on March 13, upon returning from visiting family in Lebanon. Despite presenting valid documentation and holding a faculty appointment in Brown Medicine’s Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension, she was taken into custody without access to legal counsel.
Within 24 hours, U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin issued a legal order blocking her removal, demanding that ICE and CBP provide 48 hours’ notice before any deportation. That order was completely ignored.
Dr. Alawieh was placed on a flight to Paris the same evening, en route to Beirut, where she arrived March 16. Judge Sorokin has called the situation “deeply concerning” and has summoned federal officials to court for an emergency hearing, demanding an explanation for what appears to be a willful defiance of judicial authority.
The administration has not commented on why a licensed medical specialist was removed under these circumstances, but legal experts say the case reflects a growing pattern: Trump’s immigration agencies operating above the law.
Alawieh, who trained at Yale-Waterbury, Ohio State, and the University of Washington, is now stranded in a country she left nearly a decade ago, unable to return to her patients, students, or home. “She did everything right,” said Dr. George Bayliss, medical director of Brown Medicine’s transplant division. “She is an essential part of our clinical team—and she was treated like a criminal.”
Her deportation has prompted outrage among academics, civil liberties groups, and the medical community. Brown University issued a statement confirming it is “deeply disturbed” by the deportation and is working with legal counsel to support Dr. Alawieh.
“This isn’t just a paperwork mistake,” said civil rights attorney Lara Chen. “This is a constitutional crisis in miniature—a federal court order ignored, and a lawful resident exiled.”
The Crustian Daily will continue following the hearing and potential legal fallout as this case may set a precedent for how far the Trump administration is willing to go to bypass the courts.
