Rasha Alawieh, a Brown University assistant professor of medicine and clinician educator whom the Trump administration deported last week, went to Beirut last month 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,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Monday.
“Alawieh openly admitted to this to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, as well as her support of Nasrallah,” the department stated. “A visa is a privilege not a right—glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is common sense security.”
“If you travel to Beirut to mourn the death of the terrorist leader of Hezbollah, there’s no way in hell you should be allowed to keep your visa and stay in America,” stated Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
Federal authorities found “sympathetic photos and videos” of terror leaders, including Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, in a folder of deleted items on Alawieh’s cell phone, Politico reported. Per the doctor’s Brown University profile, she holds undergraduate and medical degrees from American University of Beirut.
Per a court filing, Alawieh told federal authorities of Nasrallah that “so I have a lot of Whatsapp groups with families and friends who send them. So I am a Shia Muslim and he is a religious figure. He has a lot of teachings and he is highly regarded in the Shia community.”
“I think if you listen to one of his sermons you would know what I mean,” she said of the terror leader. “He is a religious, spiritual person, as I said, he has very high value. His teachings are about spirituality and morality.” She added that she admired him “from a religious perspective,” per Politico.
