DHS alleges deported Lebanese doctor sympathized with Hezbollah

A doctor who was arriving in the United States to teach medicine was detained at Boston's Logan International Airport on March 13 and deported -- despite a court order blocking her removal from the country, according to legal documents obtained by ABC News.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh had a valid H1B visa, or work visa, that had been issued on March 11. A Lebanese citizen, Alawieh was employed by Brown Medicine as an assistant professor of medicine.

A kidney transplant specialist, Alawieh had also previously trained at both the University of Washington and Yale University.

According to court documents filed by attorneys for the federal government and reviewed by ABC Boston affiliate WCVB, Alawieh was detained at the airport and questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents before she was deported. Agents also inspected her cellphone, according to the documents.

"During the interview, Dr. Alawieh was questioned about multiple photos she had on her phone of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the terrorist organization in Lebanon, Hezbollah...In explaining why these multiple photos were deleted by her one to two days before she arrived at Logan airport, Dr. Alawieh stated that she did not want to give authorities the perception that she supports Hezbollah and the Ayatollah politically or militarily," according to the document filed by the government.

Nasrallah and other Hezbollah commanders were killed in September 2024 Israeli airstrikes on Beirut, according to Hezbollah and Israeli officials.

During the interview, Alawieh purportedly told customs officers, according to the document, "I think if you listen to one of his sermons, you would know what I mean. He's a religious, spiritual person. As I said, he has very high value. His teachings are about spirituality and morality."

In a post Monday on the social media site X, the Department of Homeland Security said, "Last month, Rasha Alawieh traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah -- a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree. Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP officers, as well as her support of Nasrallah."

"A visa is a privilege not a right -- glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is commonsense security," the DHS added in its post.

In a statement on Monday, Hilton Beckham, Customs and Border Patrol assistant commissioner for public affairs, added, "Officers act swiftly to deny entry to those who glorify terrorist organizations, advocate violence, or openly support terrorist leaders and commemorate their deaths. Anyone found with extremist materials linked to a U.S.-designated terrorist group will be removed."

A hearing on Alawieh's case was scheduled for Monday in federal court in Massachusetts, but it was postponed to allow Alawieh's new attorneys time to review the facts. It would also allow the federal government to further respond to why the professor was deported against a judge's order to keep her in the her country.

After Alawieh's hearing was postponed Monday, Dr. Susie Hu, interim director of the Division of Kidney Disease & Hypertension at Brown Medicine, told reporters that Alawieh is a respected and hardworking colleague.

"She's only one of three transplant nephrologists in the state of Rhode Island, and her absence will be felt deeply," Hu said, according to WCVB.

Alawieh's attorneys claimed in a court filing that Brown's Division of Nephrology was "extremely distressed" that she had been deported.

"She is an assistant professor and has serious responsibilities," the document attested, according to WCVB. "Her colleagues have been covering for her, but that is no solution. Dr. Alawieh is an outstanding academic in Transplant Nephrology, and she is needed at Brown Medicine."

Alawieh was detained at Logan after she arrived from a visit with family in Lebanon.

A U.S. district court judge in Massachusetts ordered that Alawieh should not be deported without 48 hours' notice and a reason why from DHS.

Instead, according to a notice of apparent violation, DHS "willfully" disregarded the court order and deported Alawieh to France, with a scheduled flight to continue to Lebanon. The government said Monday that notice of the court order did not reach Customs and Border Protection officers at Logan Airport until after Alawieh was on her way out of the country.

Her lawyers today reported that she is now in Lebanon.