LESTER HOLT: Tonight, temporarily blocking the deportation of a Georgetown University researcher, the Trump administration is looking to remove him from the country, accusing him of ties to a terror group. Gabe Gutierrez has late details.
GABE GUTIERREZ: Bidar Khan Suri, a graduate student and father of three from India who was teaching at Georgetown University, is now accused of having ties to a terror group. But late today, a federal judge temporarily blocked his deportation, after the ACLU filed an emergency motion.
SOPHIA GREGG: Freedom of speech in this country should never be limited. And it should never be chilled by the government.
SPOKESPERSON: But the idea that somehow he is a threat to our national security because of his views on the Israel/Palestine conflict is just ridiculous.
GUTIERREZ: But a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security says Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-semitism on social media.” A U.S. official tells NBC News his father-in-law was a Hamas advisor. Georgetown University says it is not aware of Suri engaging in illegal activity and that he was granted a visa to the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Trump administration is using a law that grants the Secretary of State power to deport visa holders whose presence has adverse foreign policy consequences.
MARCO RUBIO: We will continue to look for people that we never would have allowed into this country on student visas had we known they were going to do what they’ve done.
GUTIERREZ: Meanwhile, Columbia University is now signaling it will comply with the Trump administration's demands in return for restoring $400 million in federal funding, canceled because The White House accused Columbia of continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students. During pro-Palestinian protests, campus buildings were occupied and vandalized. Jewish student Shoshana Aufzien says she was trapped inside one of them.
SHOSHANA AUFZIEN: There comes a point where speech is, you know, it’s not protected anymore if you are inciting violence, if you’re supporting terrorism.
GUTIERREZ: As for the Georgetown graduate student, his lawyer says he’s done nothing wrong, and that he’s still in custody at a detention center in Louisiana. Lester.
HOLT: All right, Gabe. Thanks.
