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“she was detained by Customs and Border Protection officers and held at the airport for 36 hours, for reasons that are unclear.” Since both articles here and N

“she was detained by Customs and Border Protection officers and held at the airport for 36 hours, for reasons that are unclear.” Since both articles here and NyTimes are only posting the positive things about the professor, I’ll throw in a possibility. They scanned the professors phone, didn’t like what they saw, and end of story.

mcphage 2y ago
> They scanned the professors phone, didn’t like what they saw, and end of story. Is there any evidence of that? And what sort of things could they not like, that would be sufficient for this action?
- nkurz 2y ago
  The NYT is now reporting that she was deported because she had attended the funeral for the former Hezbollah leader: The Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that it had deported a Brown University professor and doctor with a valid visa because they said she attended a Hezbollah leader’s funeral in February during a trip to Lebanon. When questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers upon her return to the United States, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who is Lebanese, “openly admitted” her support for the leader, Hassan Nasrallah, according to a Homeland Security spokeswoman. Dr. Alawieh was detained at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/rasha-alawieh-brown-university-doctor-deported-hezbollah.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/rasha-alawieh-brown-un... (https://archive.is/fraB8 https://archive.is/fraB8) The article goes on to say that the Department did not say why they thought she had attended this funeral, but seeing it on her phone does seem like an obvious possibility. This is of course independent of the question of whether this should be sufficient to deny re-entry.
  - nkurz 2y ago
    This article has a lot more detail: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/17/rasha-alawieh-deportation-026038 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/17/rasha-alawieh-depor...

mcphage 2y ago

> They scanned the professors phone, didn’t like what they saw, and end of story. Is there any evidence of that? And what sort of things could they not like, that would be sufficient for this action?

nkurz 2y ago
The NYT is now reporting that she was deported because she had attended the funeral for the former Hezbollah leader: The Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that it had deported a Brown University professor and doctor with a valid visa because they said she attended a Hezbollah leader’s funeral in February during a trip to Lebanon. When questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers upon her return to the United States, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who is Lebanese, “openly admitted” her support for the leader, Hassan Nasrallah, according to a Homeland Security spokeswoman. Dr. Alawieh was detained at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/rasha-alawieh-brown-university-doctor-deported-hezbollah.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/rasha-alawieh-brown-un... (https://archive.is/fraB8 https://archive.is/fraB8) The article goes on to say that the Department did not say why they thought she had attended this funeral, but seeing it on her phone does seem like an obvious possibility. This is of course independent of the question of whether this should be sufficient to deny re-entry.
- nkurz 2y ago
  This article has a lot more detail: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/17/rasha-alawieh-deportation-026038 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/17/rasha-alawieh-depor...