{"id":2413522,"date":"2025-03-17T14:07:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T18:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lebanese-doctor-barred-from-us-entry-over-alleged-hezbollah-sympathy-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-03-17T14:07:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T18:07:02","slug":"lebanese-doctor-barred-from-us-entry-over-alleged-hezbollah-sympathy-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lebanese-doctor-barred-from-us-entry-over-alleged-hezbollah-sympathy-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanese doctor barred from US entry over alleged Hezbollah sympathy &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flebanese-doctor-barred-from-us-entry-over-alleged-hezbollah-sympathy-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2413522&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Lebanese doctor barred from US entry over alleged Hezbollah sympathy<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2042249\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/customs-and-border-protection\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Customs and Border Protection<\/a> blocked a doctor who specializes in kidney transplants from entering the country after discovering she had recently attended the funeral of a leader of Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Homeland Security issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DHSgov\/status\/1901668299793899705\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">statement<\/a> on X on Monday saying Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a 34-year-old Lebanese national, attended former Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah&rsquo;s funeral last month and told CBP officers she supported the late leader.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3349866\/appeals-court-trump-rehire-fired-workers\/\">Appeals court won&#8217;t undo order forcing Trump to rehire fired federal workers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3349126\/wes-moore-trump-fbi-headquarters-maryland\/\">Moore criticizes Trump&#8217;s backtracking on FBI headquarters in Maryland: &#8216;Build ready&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3348409\/jack-smith-cartel-crackdown-trump-doj-speech-reforms\/\">From Jack Smith to cartel crackdown: Trump heralds DOJ reforms<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;A visa is a privilege not a right&mdash;glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is commonsense security,&rdquo; DHS stated.<\/p>\n<p>Representatives for Alawieh said in court documents on March 14 that she previously lived in the United States, had an active H1-B visa, and worked for Brown Medicine as an assistant professor. They said that upon returning to the U.S. from Beirut last week, she was held at Logan Airport in Boston for 36 hours before CBP flew her out of the country.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69741237\/4\/chehab-v-noem\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">ordered<\/a> CBP on March 14 to give the court 48 hours&rsquo; notice if the agency planned to move the doctor anywhere, but Alawieh&rsquo;s representatives said CBP nevertheless flew her out of the country that evening after the judge issued his order, &ldquo;willfully&rdquo; ignoring Sorokin&rsquo;s directive.<\/p>\n<p>Sorokin initially called the allegation that the Trump administration had defied his instructions &ldquo;serious&rdquo; and scheduled a hearing on the matter in Boston for Monday morning, according to the public court docket. However, Sorokin wrote in a subsequent order that Department of Justice attorneys provided an explanation and he would postpone the hearing for a week.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Officers at Logan did not receive notice of the Court&rsquo;s Order from their legal counsel until after Dr. Alawieh &lsquo;had already departed the United States&rsquo; and that &lsquo;[a]t no time would CBP not take a court order seriously or fail to abide by a court&rsquo;s order,&rsquo;&rdquo; Sorokin wrote of the DOJ attorneys&rsquo; explanation.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ&rsquo;s response is sealed, but <em>Politico<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/03\/17\/rasha-alawieh-deportation-026038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">obtained<\/a> the document and a transcript. The document alleged that CBP officers found out about Alawieh&rsquo;s attendance at Nasrallah&rsquo;s funeral from a video in her phone&rsquo;s deleted items folder. She told CBP officials she worried the video would get her in trouble.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Because I don&rsquo;t want the perception. But I can&rsquo;t delete everything. But I know I&rsquo;m not doing anything wrong. I&rsquo;m not related to anything politically or militarily,&rdquo; Alawieh said in the transcript.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/immigration\/3342105\/trump-dhs-debuts-phone-app-illegal-immigrants-self-deport\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">TRUMP DHS DEBUTS PHONE APP FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO SELF-DEPORT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Alawieh said her support for Nasrallah was strictly from a religious perspective, but CBP was unconvinced by Alawieh&rsquo;s responses.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;CBP questioned Dr. Alawieh and determined that her true intentions in the United States could not be determined,&rdquo; a DOJ prosecutor wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2042249\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2042249\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lebanese doctor barred from US entry over alleged Hezbollah sympathy U.S. Customs and Border Protection blocked a doctor who specializes in kidney transplants from entering the country after discovering she had recently attended the funeral of a leader of Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization. The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on X on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2413523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AP24228831907013.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2413522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AP24228831907013.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2413522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2413523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2413522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2413522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2413522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}