Badar Khan Suri, who has been held in Texas since March, returned to Virginia on Wednesday night after a federal judge found he raised substantial First and Fifth amendment claims.

Badar Khan Suri, the Georgetown University researcher who has been held in an immigration detention center in Texas since March, was released from custody Wednesday, hours after a federal judge ruled that Trump administration officials probably violated his rights in their ongoing attempt to deport him.

Suri, a postdoctoral fellow who lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and three children, says he is being wrongfully targeted by immigration authorities because of his family’s support for the Palestinian people in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. U.S. officials have invoked a rarely used statute as they seek to deport Suri to his native India, calling him a threat to foreign-policy interests.

At a hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered Suri released from immigration custody. He was released hours later, his attorneys said. The ruling came days after Giles asserted jurisdiction over the case in Virginia, denying a request from the Justice Department to transfer proceedings to a federal court in Texas.

As a condition of Suri’s release, Giles ordered that Suri reside in Virginia and attend hearings in her courtroom.

Georgetown researcher released from ICE custody after judge’s order

Badar Kahn Suri, who has been held in Texas since March, is expected to return to Virginia after a federal judge found he raised substantial First and Fifth amendment claims.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/05/14/georgetown-researcher-suri-virginia-texas