BOSTON — Colleagues of a deported Rhode Island doctor who federal authorities said attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said her absence is detrimental to hundreds of patients in New England because few practice in her area of expertise.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a transplant nephrologist at Brown University Health, was deported last week upon returning to the U.S. after visiting family in Lebanon. It’s unclear what prompted Customs and Border Protection agents to detain Alawieh in the first place.
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday said Alawieh traveled to Beirut to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, a Hezbollah leader and ‘brutal terrorist’ responsible for killing hundreds of Americans.
One of her colleagues said Alawieh’s absence will impact patients in Rhode Island and parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
“She manages the medical complications of kidney transplants and also determines, with the transplant surgeon, whether patients are eligible to receive transplants,” said Dr. Douglas Shemin, former director of the Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension at Brown University Health.
“The surgeons are very important. But also very important is what happens afterwards, because people are on lifelong immunosuppression,” Shemin said. “Those immunosuppressants markedly increase the risk of cancer and infection, they put people at great risk for diabetes and other metabolic abnormalities.”
A federal judge, meanwhile, is giving immigration officials another week to explain why it deported Alawieh on Friday, despite a court order preventing her immediate deportation.
More than 100 people gathered in the rain outside the Rhode Island Statehouse on Monday evening to rally in support of Alawieh, holding signs reading “Dr. Rasha Has Rights” and “We cannot tolerate this!”
Shemin said Alawieh was recruited last year and brought ‘outstanding’ qualifications to the table.
“She was the best candidate for the job and medically, her absence will be a loss for the men, women and children in our state who have chronic kidney disease and need kidney transplants,” Shemin said. “She is a lovely person. Intelligent, kind. Besides being an excellent physician, she’s also a lovely human being.”
In federal court documents, Customs and Border Protection officer John Wallace said officials found images on Alawieh’s cell phone of Hezbollah members, including Nasrallah, the group’s former leader who was killed in September.
Nasrallah’s funeral was held last month. Alawieh confirmed she attended that event while in Lebanon, as did tens of thousands of others.
According to court documents, when agents asked Alawieh if she supported Hezbollah and what the organization stands for, Alawieh answered “I don’t.”
Alawieh said she supports Nasrallah from a religious perspective, and that other photos of Hezbollah members came to her from friends and family through WhatsApp.
“He is a religious, spiritual person,” Alawieh said of Nasrallah to federal agents, according to court documents. “As I said, he has very high value. His teachings are about spirituality and morality.”
“I’m not a political person,” Alawieh is said to have told Customs and Border Protection. “I’m a physician.”
Customs and Border Protection detained Alawieh for about 36 hours. In court papers, Wallace said Alawieh’s lawyer apprised Customs and Border Protection at 7 p.m. Friday that a court order preventing immediate deportation was coming. But in the next 30 minutes, Alawieh was escorted to an airport gate and boarded Air France Flight 333 to Paris. That aircraft departed Boston at 7:43 p.m.
Wallace said at 8:10 p.m. an individual approached the Customs and Border Protection desk, opened a laptop and showed what she claimed to be a court order. Ten minutes later, he said Customs and Border Protection counsel informed him the court order had been received.
“Our client is in Lebanon and we’re not going to stop fighting to get her back in the U.S. to see her patients,” said Alawieh’s attorney, Stephanie Marzouk, after Monday’s hearing was cancelled. “And we’re also going to make sure the government follows the rule of law.”
On Monday on ‘X’, the Department of Homeland Security defended the agency’s actions.
“Last month, Rasha Alawieh traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah -- a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree. Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP officers, as well as her support for Nasrallah,” the Department of Homeland Security said in its post.
The post goes on to say that visas are a privilege not a right -- and called it ‘commonsense security’ to pull that privilege from someone glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans.
Late Monday afternoon, Brown University Health released a statement to Boston 25 News calling this an evolving situation, and warning international employees about leaving the country.
“The safety and well-being of our employees and patients remain our top priority,” the statement read. “We want to assure the public that there will be no disruption to patient care as we continue to assess the situation. We strongly encourage international staff members, including U.S. visa holders and permanent residents (i.e., ‘green card holders’), to consider postponing or delaying any travel outside the United States until further information regarding reentry requirements, restrictions, and travel bans becomes available.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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