May 5th, Alexandria, VA  – In a major victory for Georgetown scholar Dr. Badar Khan Suri and a huge blow to the Trump administration, today a federal court ruled that his habeas case alleging violations of his constitutional rights may remain in Virginia.

Federal immigration agents illegally arrested Dr. Khan Suri on March 17, 2025 in retaliation for his constitutionally protected speech in support of Palestinian rights and his family’s ties to Gaza, then secretly transported him to Texas, via Louisiana. in an effort to prevent him from accessing the courts.

Since then, the Trump administration has detained Dr. Khan Suri in an ICE facility 1,500 miles away from his family, despite the fact that he is a lawful visa holder married to a U.S. citizen. His unlawful arrest and detention are an extreme attack on the First Amendment,part of the Trump administration’s escalation of attacks against students and Palestinian rights advocates.

“In just four days, ICE transferred Dr. Khan Suri among five different ICE facilities across three states –while keeping his counsel in the dark about his whereabouts – and he’s not the only one,” said ACLU-VA Legal Director Eden Heilman. “The Trump administration tried to do the same thing to Mr. Khalil, Ms. Ozturk, and Mr. Mahdawi in order to find a court it believed would be friendlier to its unlawful detention of people advocating for Palestinian rights. We are pleased the court saw through the Trump administration’s attempts to manipulate the law, and we won’t stop fighting until Dr. Khan Suri is reunited with his family.”

Dr. Khan Suri’s federal court challenge to the constitutionality of his arrest and detention will now proceed in Virginia, where his wife and three young children live. The federal court in Virginia will hear Dr. Khan Suri’s motions to compel his return to Virginia and to be released on bond at a hearing on May 14, 2025. Separately, in Dr. Khan Suri’s immigration case, the immigration court in Texas has scheduled a follow-up hearing for June 3, 2025.

“In this important ruling, the court has rightfully rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to spirit Dr. Khan Suri away from Virginia to manufacture jurisdiction in whatever court it pleases,” said Astha Sharma Pokharel, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “We will now continue fighting for Dr. Khan Suri’s freedom — his freedom to be with his family in Virginia, to continue his studies and work at Georgetown, and to stand in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.”

In today’s ruling, the court found that the government’s “abnormal and rapid movement [of Dr. across state lines” demanded an exception to the normal jurisdictional rules for the filing of habeas petitions by a person in government custody in order not to reward the government’s attempt at forum shopping.

A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration last month when it found that the court can review former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil’s First Amendment claims challenging his arrest and detention. Another federal judge ruled against the Trump administration last week when it ordered the release of Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi on bond. And yet another federal judge ruled against the Trump administration when it ordered Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk to be transferred back to Vermont from Louisiana.

Dr. Khan Suri is challenging his arrest and detention under the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and the Administrative Procedure Act, and is represented in his federal lawsuit by the ACLU of Virginia, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the HMA Law Firm, and the Immigrants and Non-Citizens Rights Clinic at the CUNY School of Law.

For more information, please see the case page.