The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Oct. 13 upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the 2025 deportation of Rasha Alawieh, MD, a transplant nephrologist at Providence, R.I.-based Brown University Health, The Boston Globe reported Oct. 16.
Customs and Border Protection officers stopped Dr. Alawieh at Boston Logan International Airport March 13, 2025, as she returned from visiting family in Lebanon. A search of her phone allegedly turned up photos and videos of Hezbollah members and of Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s late leader. Dr. Alawieh said she had attended a commemoration of his death but denied supporting Hezbollah, which the U.S. designates a terrorist organization.
Officers issued an expedited removal order and revoked her H-1B visa, which Brown University Health had sponsored. She was flown to Lebanon the next day.
Her lawsuit argued that unappointed border agents lacked constitutional authority to issue the order and that she deserved a hearing before an immigration judge. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin dismissed the case in November 2025.
A three-judge panel ruled that federal immigration law bars courts from reviewing expedited removal orders and that Dr. Alawieh’s claims did not fit the narrow exception. Judge Sandra Lynch wrote the opinion. The court did not address the constitutional arguments.
Deborah Gonzalez, director of the Immigration Law Clinic at Roger Williams University School of Law, told the Globe the outcome was expected because the statute is so clear.
Dr. Alawieh’s attorneys have said she was one of three transplant nephrologists in Rhode Island. Paul Morrissey, MD, a Rhode Island Hospital surgeon, told the Globe she is now working as a physician in Lebanon. “She has moved on with her life,” Dr. Morrissey said.
Becker’s has reached out to Brown University Health and will update this story if more information becomes available.
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