Lebanese Doctor on H1-B Visa Denied Entry at Boston Airport and Deported Despite Court Order Halting Deportation

A Rhode Island doctor and assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school has been deported to Lebanon despite a judge’s order blocking her immediate removal. Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, was expelled from the U.S., prompting a federal court hearing in Boston to determine whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “willfully” defied the order.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin received a detailed timeline from Alawieh’s attorney, raising serious allegations about CBP’s actions. The agency has not explained the removal, which comes as President Donald Trump’s administration increases immigration arrests. A CBP spokesperson stated that migrants must prove admissibility and that officers follow strict protocols to identify threats.

Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen living in Providence, was detained at Logan International Airport in Boston on Thursday after returning from a visit to Lebanon. She had been in the U.S. since 2018 on a visa, completing fellowships at Ohio State University and the University of Washington before finishing the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program in June. Before traveling, she obtained an H-1B visa from the U.S. consulate in Lebanon, allowing her to work at Brown University in a specialized occupation.

Despite holding this visa, CBP detained her without explanation. Her cousin, Yara Chehab, filed a lawsuit arguing that her rights were being violated. In response, Judge Sorokin ordered Friday that she could not be removed from Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice and must be brought to a Monday court hearing. However, her attorneys say she was deported anyway, first flown to Paris before boarding a flight to Lebanon.

On Sunday, Sorokin ordered the government to submit a legal explanation by Monday morning and preserve all communications related to Alawieh’s deportation. Concerns have grown over the Trump administration’s compliance with court rulings blocking parts of its immigration policies. The administration has also deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador under wartime powers, despite a federal judge’s temporary block on such deportations.

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