Lawyer of Iranian Student Arrested in the U.S. Claims He Did Not Participate in Any Protests

The lawyer of an Iranian student at the University of Alabama, who was reported to have been detained by U.S. immigration officials due to "national security concerns," states that he did not participate in any protests at the university. According to an Associated Press report, federal immigration officers raided Alireza Doroudi's apartment at midnight and arrested him; meanwhile, his lawyer claims that his client was authorized to stay in the U.S. and, unlike some students facing deportation, he has never participated in any university protests. Alireza Doroudi, 32, was reportedly detained because his visa was revoked in 2023; however, David Rosas, the student's lawyer, emphasized that he does not know the reason for the visa revocation but stated that as long as he remains a student, he can stay in the U.S. He added that this mechanical engineering PhD student "was not arrested for any crime, did not participate in any anti-government protests, and is legally present in the U.S." Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday that immigration officials acted based on the revocation of Mr. Doroudi's visa by the State Department and that "this individual posed significant national security concerns." Related officials refrained from providing further details about why Doroudi is considered a security threat. His lawyer also stated that he has not received any information regarding security-related charges against his client. The Associated Press reported that public court records in Alabama show that he was fined in November 2023 for speeding and reckless driving, but he has no other legal cases. An immigration attorney in Los Angeles told the Associated Press that in recent years, visa revocations for students even due to some traffic violations have become "somewhat common" and that their visa revocation prevents them from re-entering the U.S., but if they remain students, they can stay in the country. Doroudi's case is the latest in a series of immigration arrests of university students. The arrest of foreign students who are legally present in the U.S. began with the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, who was arrested in mid-March 2023 by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents in his university dormitory in New York. The Trump administration accused these students of supporting Hamas and anti-Semitism and creating political problems for the country, while protesters against U.S. and Israeli policies argue that Trump conflated criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Rumiseh Ozturk, a 30-year-old PhD student, was also arrested on Tuesday, April 5, near the university campus in Somerville, and a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security accused her of engaging in activities "in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that kills Americans." The U.S. and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist group.