Condensed Timeline: Rashid Alawieh’s Deportation
The case of Rashid Alawieh, a Brown University doctor, exemplifies the complexity surrounding deporting immigrants who have developed demonstrable ties to the United States, but who have broken the law in some capacity. Alawieh was deported to Lebanon in March 2021 after receiving expedited deportation proceedings from a federal judge.
Alawieh was born in Lebanon but spent most of his life in France. He arrived at Brown in 2010 as a medical student, as part of a program that allows international students to complete their degree in the U.S. While studying at Brown, Alawieh developed an interest in health inequalities and resolved to provide care to immigrants. In 2014, he opened a clinic in Providence that offered care to the city’s low-income Latino population. By 2016, the clinic had delivered more than 2,000 medical consults. Alawieh provided care regardless of patients’ ability to pay, often accepting donated food in lieu of money.
Prosecutors argued that Alawieh’s alleged affiliation with Hezbollah implicated him in a violent drug conspiracy. They claimed that Alawieh’s ties to the Shiite Muslim organization began while he studied in Iran. These allegations were based in part on anonymous sources and one former friend, who had fled to Saudi Arabia and implicated Alawieh in a terrorism-related conspiracy in a secret security report lodged with Congress in 2019. A federal court granted Alawieh expedited deportation proceedings in September 2020, despite the fact that no evidence was presented to support the drug-related conspiracy.
Alawieh has repeatedly denied any involvement with Hezbollah.
Alawieh’s deportation was launched in February 2021 after Alawieh was denied bond and disappeared from his clinic. He was taken to Massachusetts’s Metropolitan Detention Center and was advised by the court to prepare for deportation.
An immigration judge ordered Alawieh’s deportation to Lebanon in early March 2021. In his final court appearance, Alawieh’s lawyer argued that the government had failed to substantiate Alawieh’s alleged ties to a drug conspiracy, had relied on anonymous sources and false statements and could not present any evidence that Alawieh was affiliated with Hezbollah other than anonymous witnesses. Judge Jeffrey Griffin of Federal District Court in Providence, P.R. denied the defense’s emergency appeal for a stay of deportation. Alawieh left the country on March 18, 2021, on a direct flight to Lebanon.
– Rashid Alawieh’s alleged affiliation with Hezbollah and a drug conspiracy fueled a laborious and years-long legal battle that led to an attempted extradition by the Lebanese government.
– Alawieh came to Brown University as an international student in 2010 and opened a low-income clinic in Providence in 2014, providing care to immigrant patients regardless of their ability to pay.
– While prosecutors relied on anonymous sources and false statements to substantiate Alawieh’s alleged ties to Hezbollah and a drug conspiracy, Alawieh denied any affiliation.
– In September of 2020, a federal court granted Alawieh expedited deportation proceedings despite no evidence being presented to support the drug-related conspiracy.
– Alawieh’s deportation was launched in February 2021, and Alawieh was denied bond and disappeared from his clinic.
– An immigration judge ordered Alawieh’s deportation to Lebanon in early March 2021.
– Alawieh’s defense team argued in court that the government had failed to substantiate Alawieh’s alleged ties to a drug conspiracy, had relied on anonymous sources and false statements other than anonymous witnesses.
– This case exemplifies the complexity around deporting immigrants who have developed significant ties to the United States, but who have also broke the law in previous endeavors.
taxonomy:
immigration, deportation, rashid-alawieh, brown-university-doctor, health-inequalities, low-income-latino-population, immigration-judges, federal-courts, lebanon, expedited-deportation-proceedings, anonymous-sources, false-statements, terrorism-related-conspiracy, drug-conspiracy, attempts-at-extradition, low-income-clinic, heightened-security-report-lodged-with-congress-in-2019.
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