Brown University Professor Is Deported Despite a Judge's Order
40 comments
·March 17, 2025koops
consumer451
Reading some of the comments on the latest post from YC's immigration lawyer felt like a chilling sign of times to come.
refulgentis
Gary's promised a bright future after Juche.
All in on tariffs and nativism.
We are told our glorious future awaits.
I'd tell him, ye reap what ye sow.
But truth is, I'm the sucker.
Same people I want a check from are the ones pulling up the ladders behind them in some sort of bizarre LARP.
And he could give two shits about what questions one of his companies lawyers has to answer.
Chinjut
Too late. It's been flagged.
pstuart
It's unfortunately political to its core, but it's absolutely relevant to all of our lives.
wtmt
In such cases in the U.S., where judicial orders are not heeded, what are the consequences for the executive (and the agencies it controls) and what are the remedies practically available (something that can be put into action) for the judiciary for contempt of court?
To what extent can the executive get away with disobeying judicial orders (without filing appeals)?
mullingitover
If the executive branch is ignoring court orders, the constitution is de facto suspended. It’s in the ‘constitutional crisis’ phase when they’re threatening to ignore the courts. When they’re actually doing it, there is no longer a working constitution.
The remedies are to pray that the US Marshals don’t break their oath to the constitution and are willing to arrest their bosses for contempt of court when the courts order it.
from-nibly
The problem is you can't just arrest your bosses. That would be a military coup.
mullingitover
If the leaders of the DOJ commit federal crimes do they just get a pass? Of course not. The marshals must do their jobs and arrest people the courts lawfully order them to, regardless of their title. That’s not a coup, that’s the constitution working normally.
The coup already happened when the executive usurped the judicial branch’s authority.
apical_dendrite
The US Marshalls are part of the Department of Justice, so in a criminal contempt case, the DOJ would be effectively arresting itself. Also, the President can pardon anyone of any federal crime for any reason without any possibility of judicial review. So criminal remedies seem ineffective.
As for fines - it looks like they're capped at $1000, and depending on the circumstances, the government might just be paying that fine to itself. So that doesn't seem effective either. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/402
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unsnap_biceps
Congress is intended to be able to enforce via impeachment, but if congress declines to impeach, there's really no consequences for the executive branch.
electric_mayhem
Can we recall the elected officials who are shirking their duty to impeach an executive who is behaving unlawfully?
int_19h
The only officials who matter here are congressmen, and there's no provision in the US Constitution that would allow for a recall. The only legal mechanism for removal is expulsion, which must be voted on by the rest of Congress, so...
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xnx
The 2A crowd has thoughts about this
zonian
FDR threatened to pack the court with judges sympathetic to his policies. The Supreme Court Court backed down and ruled, in essence, the New Deal legal. In theory a court can issue arrest warrants but that isn’t going to happen with Trump. SCOTUS has already ruled that Presidents are largely immune to arrest and the President can pardon whomever he wants. Thus, effectively there is no legal mechanism for enforcement.
Much of the American system relies on established political norms for governance. Pretty much all of these norms are being gutted. No one knows what the long term impact will be but I believe the republic as we knew it is dead.
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defrost
Five days ago US Republicans "stopped time" with respect to a clock running that required a response to an appeal against Trump's tariffs.
~ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43358343
Each day for the remainder of the first session of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622) with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on February 1, 2025.
"Each day [..] shall not constitute a calendar day"
An executive with a cowered majority can get away with almost anything when they can issue emergency orders and set aside an appeal and review process intended to temper such orders.
It's a triumph of creative lawyering over overt disobeying of judicial orders.
voidfunc
Judges order means nothing if the executive branch decides not to enforce it and the legislature won't hold the executive accountable.
I am honestly surprised we took so long to get to this failure mode of our system of government.
deepfriedchokes
Separation of powers seems pretty toothless if it operates entirely on good faith.
pstuart
> Judges order means nothing if the executive branch decides not to enforce it and the legislature won't hold the executive accountable.
This administration will not act in good faith -- it will cite and use laws that it agrees with to compel action and when faced with anything not aligned with its goals will simply ignore it.
While there is resistance, it's going to be too little, too late. There's so many horrible aspects about this, but at the top is the fact that there's a sizable amount of the population which likes this. My faith in humanity is just about gone.
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raincom
CBP detained Prof. Rasha Alawieh upon her return from Lebanon to the Boston Logan airport, and deported her after 36 hours of detention. Usually, CBP has broader powers at the border. So many people were deported from the US airports, despite having valid Visas; CBP folks can take ur phone and laptop and rummage through it, then deport folks for flimsy reasons.
prpl
The legal system is a single point of failure here without any apparent teeth. The only thing that makes sense is to start holding the underlings in contempt
deniedentry
[dead]
737min
[flagged]
tolidano
So "searching around" where? On some 4chan board with unverifiable conjecture perhaps? Maybe on Twitter, home of factual information? Please, I would LOVE to hear that there is some kind of proof this person was actually a legitimate concern to national security or something. I'm just afraid I'm going to find out that no, it's just that our government has gone to hell, and I should be worried myself, a naturalized citizen with a passport but not born American, that I can somehow have my citizenship revoked because I think the president is a buffoon.
apical_dendrite
What exactly is not reflective of the facts? The court issued a standard order to the government to provide 48 hours notice before deporting her. The government ignored that order. You can see the docket here: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69741237/chehab-v-noem/
readthenotes1
"Immigration officials did not receive this order before Alawieh was sent on a plane to Paris, according to the Boston Globe."
The Boston globe link was behind a paywall, unfortunately.
I don't mean to quibble inordinately, but there's probably enough bad here to stick to the lede (skilled worker deported without cause) and not distractions
https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025/03/brown-profe...
apical_dendrite
That is not in the latest Boston Globe article on the case. https://archive.is/tvXUn
EDIT: OK I see the confusion. The Globe article from Friday quotes the organ program medical director as saying the court order "apparently" didn't arrive in time. But over the weekend, her lawyers provided a detailed timeline to the court saying that they provided the order to CBP at Logan Airport before the plane took off. So I think the claim you're referencing here is just outdated and incomplete. https://archive.is/IgnTA
EdwardDiego
What facts are we missing?
refulgentis
Please, feel free to share, I can't find anything different.
leshokunin
It's almost as if the argument for skilled foreign workers isn't real
int_19h
"There is a shortage of American doctors working in Dr. Alawieh’s area of specialty, transplant nephrology. ... Her patients included individuals awaiting transplants and those dealing with the complex conditions that can occur after a transplant"
Sounds like a pretty strong argument to me.
readthenotes1
"argument for skilled foreign workers isn't real"
Tbf, what made the USA great (in addition to vast amounts of natural resources, peaceful neighbors, and technological dominance over the indigenous) was turning skilled foreign workers into skilled local workers
Please don't spike this as political. If U.S. democracy breaks down, as this event portends, it will absolutely have an effect on startups.