Boston – A federal judge wants to know why a Lebanon doctor with an American visa was deported, after he ordered not to remove it until he could hear his case.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, received the visa on March 11 and arrived at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday, according to a complaint filed in her name by a cousin in a federal court.
Alawiech, who had worked and lived in Rhode Island previously, was arrested at least 36 hours, until Friday, and was going to be sent back to Lebanon, according to the complaint. Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist, would start working at Brown University as a medical professor.
The American district judge Leo Sorokin issued an order on Friday to schedule a hearing in person on Monday, with Alawiech taken to the courts.
“Whether or not he is in custody of the United States, the court anticipates proceeding with this hearing,” he wrote.
But for Saturday, the cousin presented a motion that customs officials “voluntarily” disobeyed the order by sending Alawiech back to Lebanon.
Sorokin gave the government until Monday morning to respond, before the start of the scheduled audience of the 10 am. The government’s response was not publicly available.
Alawich has worked in Brown before the issuance of his H1B visa, according to the complaint. He said he has celebrated companions and residences in three universities in the United States.
A Brown spokesman said Alawieh is a Brown Medicine employee with a clinical event for Brown.
Brown Medicine is a non -profit medical practice that is their own organization and attends to their own patients directly. He is affiliated with the University of Brown School of Medicine.
