Lebanese doctor deported from US had photos sympathetic to Hezbollah on her phone, officials say

Rasha Alawieh of Brown University said she attended funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who she supported from a 'religious perspective'

Demonstrators protest the deportation of Dr Rasha Alawieh of Brown University at the State House in Providence, Rhode Island. AFP

US authorities on Monday said they had deported a doctor to Lebanon last week after discovering “sympathetic photos and videos” of the former long-time leader of Hezbollah and militants on her mobile phone.

Rasha Alawieh also told agents that while in Lebanon last month, she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who she supported from a “religious perspective” as a Shiite Muslim, according to a transcript of an airport interview seen by Reuters.

The US Department of Justice provided those details as it sought to assure a federal judge in Boston that Customs and Border Protection did not wilfully disobey an order he issued on Friday that should have stopped Dr Alawieh's immediate removal. The judge had said authorities needed to provide the court with at least 48 hours' notice of her impending deportation.

The kidney transplant specialist at Brown University in Rhode Island was denied entry into the US after returning from a visit to her family overseas, according to a petition filed in US District Court in Massachusetts. She possessed an H1B visa issued by the US consulate in Beirut on March 11.

Despite having a valid visa, she was detained at Boston’s Logan airport before eventually being put on a plane to Paris.

Based on those statements and the discovery of photos on her phone of Nasrallah and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, the Justice Department said CBP had concluded “her true intentions in the United States could not be determined”.

“A visa is a privilege not a right – glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied,” US Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said. “Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is commonsense security.”

The White House mentioned Dr Alawieh in a post on X, saying, “Bye-bye Rasha”, and linking to a report of her deportation.

Late on Sunday, a team of lawyers from the firm of Arnold and Porter, who had been set to represent Dr Alawieh's family, withdrew from the case, telling the court their decision was made “as a result of further diligence”, according to The New York Times.

Her expulsion came as US President Donald Trump's administration has sought to sharply restrict border crossings and increase immigration arrests.

Western governments including the US have designated Hezbollah a terrorist group. The administration has pledged to go after foreign students taking part in pro-Palestine protests on university campuses, saying that they were engaged in spreading Hamas propaganda.

Former graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder, was detained this month and told he would be deported for taking part in protests at Columbia University. Last week, immigration authorities arrested a person involved in the protests who was in the US on an expired student visa, and revoked the visa of another, who chose to “self-deport”.