ICE detains Iranian doctoral student who allegedly ‘engaged in activities in support of Hamas’

A University of Alabama mechanical engineering doctoral student from Iran was arrested by immigration authorities on Tuesday because of the threat he posed to America’s national security.

The student, Alireza Doroudi, arrived in the United States in January 2023 with an F-1 student visa after “clearing all immigration checks,” according to the university’s student newspaper, The Crimson White.

Six months later, he received a notice informing him that his visa had been revoked. Doroudi subsequently contacted the school’s International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS), which in turn assured him that he could stay in the country legally so long as he remained a student.

It appears ISSS was wrong, because he’s since been arrested.

BREAKING: ICE has detained Iranian National, Alireza Doroudi, a PhD student at the University of Alabama.

No more extremist anti-Americans in America. pic.twitter.com/ByAkkU5tnX

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 27, 2025

Speaking with The Crimson White, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson explicitly said he poses a threat to the country.

“ICE HSI made this arrest in accordance with the State Department’s revocation of Doroudi’s student visa,” the spokesperson said. “This individual posed significant national security concerns.”

However, DHS refused to explain why exactly he poses a threat.

Meanwhile, the school’s local pro-Hamas chapter, aka the Bama Students for Palestine, claimed in a social media statement published Thursday that Doroudi was not associated with their movement:

As for the school, it had nothing particularly important to say.

“Federal privacy laws limit what can be shared about an individual student,” the university wrote in the statement to Fox News. “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.”

Congressional Democrats are not happy about Doroudi’s arrest.

Case in point:

I am extremely disturbed by reports of Iranian PhD student Alireza Doroudi’s detention.

The Trump admin must immediately explain why he was detained and provide him his constitutional due process rights.

— Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (@RepYassAnsari) March 27, 2025

Nor are members of the University of Alabama College Democrats pleased.

“Our fears have come to pass,” the group said in a statement published on Facebook. “Donald Trump, Tom Homan and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community.”

“As far as we know right now, ICE is yet to provide any justification for their actions, so we are not sure if this persecution is politically motivated, as has been seen in other universities around the country,” they added.

Word of Doroudi’s detainment came a day after video footage went viral of a Tufts University graduate student from Turkey being arrested in Massachusetts for “glorifying and supporting terrorists.”

Watch:

Federal agents have detained Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk. After graduating from Columbia, she led pro-Hamas, violent antisemitic, and anti-American events as a PhD student at Tufts.

She now faces deportation.

Shalom, Rumeysa. pic.twitter.com/7yhoQZXxyg

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) March 26, 2025

The student, Rumeysa Ozturk, was “granted the privilege to be in this country on a visa,” but “a visa is a privilege, not a right,” a senior DHS official told the Jewish News Syndicate.

“Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is common sense security,” the official added.

All this comes after the arrest earlier this month of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and “permanent resident” accused of entering the U.S. on fraudulent terms.

He failed to disclose on his permanent residency application that he’d previously worked for the Syria office of the British Embassy in Beirut and that he was a member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, aka UNRWA.

UNRWA has been directly linked to terrorism.

“The relief agency was infamously stripped of tens of millions of dollars in federal funding after Israel claimed that 12 of its members took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel,” according to Fox News.

The fact that Khalil “lied” about his membership by not disclosing it is grounds enough for his deportation, the DOJ said in a statement.

“Regardless of his allegations concerning political speech, Khalil withheld membership in certain organizations and failed to disclose continuing employment by the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he submitted his adjustment of status application,” the statement reads.

“It is black-letter law that misrepresentations in this context are not protected speech. Thus, Khalil’s First Amendment allegations are a red herring, and there is an independent basis to justify removal sufficient to foreclose Khalil’s constitutional claim here,” the statement concludes.

Senior Staff Writer
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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