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Update: Brown U advises international community, “postpone, reconsider travel”, after deportation
This article has been updated (in red) at 9:31am, 3/17/25:
On the opening page of “Global Education” on the Brown University website it says, “The Brown experience is inherently global in nature. Students and scholars from Brown routinely advance knowledge and understanding on issues of global significance. Members of the Brown community travel across the world for research and educational experiences. And international perspectives infuse academic life on campus every day, in classrooms, laboratories, events and activities.”
However, on Sunday, Brown issued an email advisory to its community headlined, “Brown advises all international community members to postpone, reconsider travel”.
The advisory comes after the deportation of an assistant professor of medicine, Rasha Alawieh, 34, who was returning to the United States from a two-week visit with her family in Lebanon at Logan Airport. There is a hearing in federal court today to determine how the deportation happened as U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled, almost simultaneously, that she not leave Massachusetts without a 48-hour notice. She arrived back in Lebanon on Sunday. There is a rally set for 6pm TODAY at the RI State House advocating for her return, and it is unclear who the organizers are.
RINewsToday has requested a statement and copy of the email from Brown’s News service. The student news says the message was from Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy, Russell Carey, who wrote, “Potential changes in travel restrictions and travel bans, visa procedures and processing, re-entry requirements and other travel-related delays may affect travelers’ ability to return to the U.S. as planned.”
More on Dr. Alawieh
Alawieh received her BS in 2011 from the American University of Beirut and her MD in 2015, also from AUB. She was in the US with an H1-B Visa and was recognized as a kidney transplant specialist. For the past 6 years she has been working and studying in several fellowships at universities including Ohio State University, University of Washington, and Yale – and now Brown.
On the Brown Health (formerly Lifespan) website it notes there are 9 people on the Transplant Team, under the direction of Dr. Paul Morrissey. Alawieh, joined Brown in 2024, and is the only team member listed by name with no photo and an empty professional page. Her Brown University page is equally empty, save for her name.
One wrinkle in a visa – one wrinkle in time?
While the reason for Alawieh’s deportation was not given by the government, Brown University said they “could confirm she had a valid H-1B temporary worker visa in her passport when she arrived at Logan Airport on Friday, March 14, 2025,” in an email to Newsweek. The school noted, however, that there had been “a wrinkle” in her [visa] application, but that had been taken care of, and she was good to be in the U.S. until the summer of 2027. Alawieh’s immigration attorney is Thomas S. Brown, of Cranston, with 20 years experience in immigration and immigration employment law, who also acknowledged that there had been a wrinkle in the application, but that it had been cleared up.
Congressman Gabe Amo (D), a consistent critic of the Trump administration, issued a statement that he is working on the situation – “Since Friday, my office and I have been directly engaged with local and national lawyers, as well as other Members of Congress, to assess the facts surrounding Dr. Alawieh, including the apparent violation of a federal judge’s order. I remain committed to getting answers from the Department of Homeland Security to provide Dr. Alawieh, her family, her colleagues, and our community the clarity we all deserve.” Today, Amo has activities scheduled to advocate for SNAP benefits at the MLK Center in Newport and is holding a press event at the RI Food Bank after that. Activities are scheduled to run at least until noon. Amo does not have Alawieh’s hearing on his schedule.
Email from Brown to their community:
Brown’s growing concern for its international students and faculty
On December 27th, 2024, the United State government noted Lebanon as a Level 4, the highest level of travel warning, saying, “Do Not Travel to Lebanon due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, unexploded landmines, and the risk of armed conflict. Some areas, especially near the borders, have increased risk.
Brown University identifies High Risk Travel as “[including] international destinations that are posted to the U.S. DOS as a Travel Advisory Level 3 or Level 4, and/or a CDC Travel Health Notice Level 2 or Level 3, and/or that are deemed as posing a significant health, safety, or security risk to the traveler through advisories from International SOS.”
Brown is extending its cautions to domestic travel, as (in Brown Daily Herald), “it is unclear whether there may be implications also for domestic travel within the United States as the federal policy landscape continues to evolve.”
Last summer, RINewsToday did a story on Brown’s advice to its international students, advising them to come home before the inauguration of Donald Trump as President. Read it here:
This is a developing story