On March 13, Dr. Racha Alawieh, an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University, was denied entry into the United States and ordered deported back to her native Lebanon. US immigration authorities blocked the 34-year-old nephrologist, who studied and worked in the United States for six years, from entering the United States on an H-1B visa due to her alleged support for Hezbollah, a foreign terrorist organization designated by the US Department of State since 1997.
Attorneys representing US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “cited the powerful discretion given to a border officer” for permitting entry into the US, according to a summary of a legal brief by The Providence Journal, which quotes from the document:
“If a CBP officer determines that an alien who is arriving in the United States is inadmissible,” their brief reads, quoting from an immigration statute, “the officer shall order the alien removed from the United States without further hearing or review unless the alien indicates either an intention to apply for asylum … or a fear of persecution.”
The case is now under judicial review and has broad implications. If courts uphold the decision of immigration authorities to deport Alawieh, the Trump administration will have a powerful instrument to disrupt Hezbollah’s operations in the United States, which have relied on US-based supporters and sympathizers of Lebanese background for decades.
In the past, the US largely relied on prosecutions and convictions to go after Hezbollah’s agents and supporters, primarily those involved in illicit financial schemes. However, while jailing Hezbollah supporters rather than deporting them may appear to be a stronger tactic against the group, the record is mixed. Most cases led to light convictions for white-collar crimes. In one prominent case, that of Kassem Tajideen, US authorities released Tajideen halfway through his five-year sentence on humanitarian grounds. Short sentences haven’t significantly deterred various Hezbollah members from operating in the US. However, the risk of deportation could provide a deterrent, with the added benefit that removing agents of influence and facilitators would not only be disruptive to the terrorist group but also discourage others from risking comfortable lives in the US.
Racha Alawieh’s supporters, much like those of Mahmoud Khalil, the Algerian Columbia University student who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, have sought to turn her case into a free speech issue. These supporters claim she is solely being punished for her political views. However, Racha comes from a prominent Hezbollah family. In addition, immigration agents stated they found “sympathetic,” pro-Hezbollah material on her phone that align with her family’s political affiliation, which, had she disclosed it to authorities, could have jeopardized her visa application.
Media coverage of Alawieh’s case has so far focused on evidence CBP agents found on her phone. While in Lebanon, where she was waiting for her H1-B visa to be processed, Alawieh attended the funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who died in an Israeli strike on September 28, 2024. Her phone reportedly also contained material sympathetic to Hezbollah and photos of Hezbollah martyrs. Alawieh reportedly explained to CPB agents that she followed Nasrallah’s teachings “from a religious perspective,” not a political one. However, this argument is belied by Nasrallah’s religious views being inextricably enmeshed with Hezbollah’s ideological and political outlook.
More importantly, Alawieh’s political alignment with Hezbollah is plausible, given her family ties to the terror group. Her paternal uncle, Yasser Abbas Alawieh, the youngest brother to her father Mustapha, is the Tyre branch manager of Al Qard Al Hassan (AQAH), Hezbollah’s main financial institution and, according to the US Department of Treasury, which sanctioned AQAH in 2007, a key conduit of Hezbollah’s illicit financial activities. Tyre, a large city and a commercial hub in southern Lebanon, hosts a large Shia majority. Yasser Abbas Alawieh’s position speaks to his prominence within Hezbollah’s financial arm.
According to AQAH banking records leaked into the public domain in December 2020, Yasser Alawieh holds 20 accounts with AQAH (Leaked AQAH records were accessed through the Know Your Client platform, 240 Analytics), a further indication of his significance within the financial institution, where bank managers have acted as conduits, through their personal accounts, for Hezbollah’s illicit financial operations.
Racha’s uncle Yasser is not the only family member who banks at Hezbollah’s AQAH. So do her two brothers, Hadi and Ali Alawieh, who hold two accounts (one dollar-denominated) at the AQAH branch in Haret Hreik, Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Social media accounts belonging to members of Racha’s extended family also contain clues to the family’s ideological bent—including videos of Hezbollah martyrs bearing the Alawieh family name, and memorial messages and devotional images of Nasrallah.
Racha Alawieh is not the only Lebanese national with ties to Hezbollah who has come to the United States. Between 2017 and 2019, US authorities indicted Samer El Debek, Ali Kourani, and Ali Hassan Saab, all Hezbollah agents from Lebanon who had become US citizens. Their case involved plotting terror attacks, but their indictments included immigration fraud among the charges—they had all lied about their affiliation with a US-designated foreign terrorist organization when they sought legal entry into the country. Numerous other Lebanese nationals have been indicted and convicted over the years in white-collar crimes that usually served the purpose of financing Hezbollah’s overseas activities.
As Racha Alawieh’s case undergoes judicial review, time will tell whether the evidence amassed by immigration authorities goes beyond mere sympathy for Hezbollah and participation in its late leader’s funeral. However, lying to immigration authorities about family ties, political sympathies, and affiliations to a terror group is a distinct issue from free speech. If such ties and misrepresenting them are the basis for pulling Dr. Alawieh’s H-1B visa, this legal justification can become a blueprint for the US government to go after the vast network of support Hezbollah has garnered in the United States over four decades of work among immigrant communities.
In the past, prosecuting Hezbollah supporters and facilitators has taken years and significant public resources while often yielding light sentences. If the deportation of Racha Alawieh becomes precedent, the Trump administration may use it to significantly disrupt Hezbollah’s influence and illicit finance operations in the United States.
