The US government on Thursday asked a federal judge to transfer Indian national Badar Khan Suri’s deportation case from Virginia to Texas, where he is currently being held on charges of “spreading Hamas propaganda.”
At the hearing, US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles expressed doubt about the government’s petition, which would require her to dismiss the Virginia case, the Associated Press reported.
She emphasised that dismissal would invalidate her March directive to keep Badar Khan Suri within the US during his First Amendment proceedings.
Justice Department attorney David Byerley indicated he would consult with US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement regarding the judge’s concerns. He expressed confidence that ICE would respect her deportation stay order whilst the case transfers to Texas federal court.
“OK,” the judge responded. “I’m not going to rely on that. But thank you,” she added.
In a court filing ahead of the hearing, US attorneys argued that Badar Khan Suri’s lawsuit should have been filed in Texas, not Virginia, since he was already moved out of the state. They called the transfer a “straightforward” legal matter.
The Trump administration said it relocated Khan Suri from a detention center in Farmville, Virginia, to Louisiana and then Texas due to overcrowding.
However, the judge Giles appeared doubtful about that explanation. She asked the government to provide specific data on how many beds were available in Farmville at the time of Suri’s arrest and how many detainees have actually been transferred for overcrowding.
Khan Suri’s attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union told the judge that he initially slept on the floor in an overcrowded Texas facility for several weeks, though he now occupies an individual cell.
His legal representatives suggested the transfer to Texas aimed to secure a more conservative judicial hearing. Attorney Vishal Agraharkar accused the government of engaging in “forum shopping.”
The federal courts in Texas and western Louisiana feature predominantly Republican-appointed judges, unlike Alexandria, Virginia’s US District Court.
Appeals proceed to the conservative-leaning 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The 5th Circuit, one of 13 federal appellate courts nationwide, comprises 17 full-time judges. Twelve received appointments from Republican presidents, including six during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Outside the Alexandria courthouse on Thursday, Hassan Ahmad, another lawyer representing Khan Suri, reinforced Agraharkar’s courtroom statements. “There is a reason why the detention facilities exist there,” Ahmad said, further noting that, “This kind of rigged game has to stop,” he said.
His legal team said that his arrest and imprisonment were unconstitutional, stemming from his wife’s Gaza connections. They assert that Khan Suri and his spouse, Mapheze Saleh, faced targeting because Saleh’s father worked with Gaza’s Hamas-supported administration before the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian citizen, came to the US in 2022 on a J-1 visa and works at Georgetown University as a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow.
He and his wife Saleh have three children—a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old twins. Suri, who holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi.
Khan Suri filed the lawsuit soon after masked, plainclothes agents arrested him on March 17 outside his apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia.
He is currently a fellow at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
