Deported Brown University Professor Attended Nasrallah’s Funeral, U.S. Government Says

Photo Credit: Will Hart / Flickr / CC2.0

Brown University’s Sayles Hall.

Rasha Alawieh, a Brown University assistant professor of medicine, was deported by the Trump administration last week after U.S. authorities said that she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and expressed support for him, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday.

Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese doctor and Brown University professor here on a visa, just got DEPORTED after feds found out she attended a funeral for HEZBOLLAH TERROR CHIEF Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/XGo6HOqwTO

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 17, 2025

The DHS described Nasrallah as “a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree.” According to the agency, Alawieh admitted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers that she traveled to Beirut last month to attend Nasrallah’s funeral and expressed support for him.

“A visa is a privilege, not a right—glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is common-sense security,” the DHS statement read.

“If you travel to Beirut to mourn the death of the terrorist leader of Hezbollah, there’s no way in hell you should be allowed to keep your visa and stay in America,” stated Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

Further investigation into Alawieh’s phone reportedly uncovered “sympathetic photos and videos” of terror figures, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to Politico. These materials were found in a folder of deleted items during a federal search.

Alawieh, who holds undergraduate and medical degrees from the American University of Beirut, reportedly explained her connection to Nasrallah during questioning. In a court filing, she described him as “a religious figure” who is “highly regarded in the Shia community.”

“So I have a lot of WhatsApp groups with families and friends who send them. So I am a Shia Muslim and he is a religious figure. He has a lot of teachings and he is highly regarded in the Shia community,” Alawieh told federal authorities.

“I think if you listen to one of his sermons you would know what I mean,” she said of the terror leader. “He is a religious, spiritual person, as I said, he has very high value. His teachings are about spirituality and morality.” She added that she admired him “from a religious perspective,” per Politico.

This is the second terror-supporting who is being deported from a US college under President Donald Trump’s new, stricter policy of cleaning up US campuses from foreign Jihadi terror supporters and antisemitism.

Content from JNS was used in this report.