Deportation of Rasha Alawieh

Rasha Alawieh is a Lebanese assistant professor at Brown University. She was denied re-entry to the United States in March 2025 and deported to Lebanon, despite having a H-1B visa. U.S. Department of Defense officials justified Alawieh's denial for re-entry after "sympathetic photos and videos" of Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and Hezbollah militants were found "in her cell phone's deleted items folder", and may have been emailed by Alawieh from her phone.

A court order temporarily blocking her removal from Massachusetts was issued, but the government said that officers did not receive it until after her plane had departed. Some of the court documents remain sealed.

A U.S. Homeland Security spokeswoman said that upon being questioned Alawieh “openly admitted” her support for Nasrallah. The spokeswoman added that: "A visa is a privilege, not a right. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied.” A spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection also emphasized that a visa does not guarantee entry, and that "anyone found with extremist materials linked to a U.S.-designated terrorist group will be removed" or rendered inadmissible to the United States.

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