ICE Agents Arrest Alabama Doctoral Student in Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Activism

Washington (Quds News Network)- Federal immigration agents have arrested a University of Alabama doctoral student, one of more than half a dozen students targeted by the Trump administration in recent weeks as part of a campaign aimed at silencing pro-Palestine voices on campuses.

Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student from Iran studying mechanical engineering, is currently being held in a county jail, awaiting transfer to an immigration facility, said his attorney, David Rozas, according to reports.

A spokesperson for the Pickens County Jail in Alabama confirmed to ABC News that an Alireza Doroudi has been in their custody since Tuesday and is being held at the behest of ICE.

Doroudi was taken into custody by ICE at 3 a.m. Thursday at his home, his attorney said.
The Department of Homeland Security said Doroudi’s student visa was revoked and he was subsequently arrested because he “posed significant national security concerns.”

Rozas, though, said in a statement to ABC News he has ” not been informed of any allegations concerning significant national security issues.”

No federal charges have been filed against Doroudi, according to a search of federal court records. Rozas also told ABC News that the student has “not been arrested for any crime, nor has he participated in any anti-government protests.”

“He is legally present in the U.S., pursuing his American dream by working towards his doctorate in mechanical engineering,” Rozas said. “He is also in the early stages of applying for an EB-1/Adjustment of Status as a researcher with extraordinary ability.”

Doroudi’s LinkedIn page says he is a “trained metallurgy engineer with over ten years of academic experience in Materials Science, welding, and brazing.”

“The University of Alabama recently learned that a doctoral student has been detained off campus by federal immigration authorities,” the university said in a statement. “Federal privacy laws limit what can be shared about an individual student. International students studying at the University are valued members of the campus community, and International Student and Scholar Services is available to assist international students who have questions.”

“UA has and will continue to follow all immigration laws and cooperate with federal authorities,” it said.

Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Activism

The news of Doroudi’s arrest comes a day after a video emerged showing Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student from Turkey, being arrested in the street in Massachusetts by ICE officers. The DHS said she was arrested for “glorifying and supporting terrorists” and added that she had shown support for Hamas.

She is one of several foreign nationals connected to prestigious American universities who were arrested under the Trump administration for their pro-Palestine and anti-genocide activism.

Earlier this month, pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by ICE. Khalil had been one of the leaders of pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University last spring.

He was taken from his student apartment building in lower Manhattan, and then to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, before being transferred to Louisiana.

In a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump described the arrest of Khalil as “the first arrest of many to come”.

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” Trump said.

Columbia University also lost $400 million in federal funding after being named on a list of schools accused of failure to address antisemitism. 60 universities could also face funding cuts if federal investigations show evidence that they have permitted antisemitic behavior.

As he campaigned for a second term in the White House, Trump pledged to stop the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that erupted after Israel launched its deadly war on Gaza and deport any foreign students involved.

Upon taking office, he began to issue executive actions signalling he would carry out his threats.

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in a White House fact sheet.

“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”

Earlier, Yale University suspended Iranian scholar Helyeh Doutaghi from its law school after a Jewish news website, which uses AI to generate articles, accused her of being a member of a ‘terrorist group.’ Doutaghi said she is a “loud and proud” supporter of Palestinian rights.

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and post-doctoral fellow working at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, was detained by US customs agents, accusing him of “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media”. The US administration intends to deport him after labeling him as a threat to U.S. foreign policy due to his and his wife’s support for Palestinian rights.

Ozturk is now the third international student known to be transferred to Louisiana after being detained by federal officers. Khalil and Badar Khan Suri were both transferred to an ICE detention facility in Jena.

Columbia student Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old permanent U.S. resident, also faces a deportation order but a judge ruled this week that she cannot be detained.