A Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow has been detained by the Department of Homeland Security, the university said Wednesday, as the Trump administration continues its immigration clampdown.

       In a letter obtained by CNN, Georgetown University Interim President Robert Groves told its Board of Directors that Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national who was in the US on a visa “to continue his doctoral research on peace building in Iraq and Afghanistan,” has been detained by DHS and his visa has been revoked.

       “We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity and we have not received a reason for his detention,” the letter continued. In a statement to CNN, a university spokesperson said, “We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”

       Suri’s detention comes as President Donald Trump continues to crack down on students who engage in pro-Palestinian protests.

       It’s the latest case in a series of arrests and deportation proceedings the Trump administration has brought against people associated with US colleges and universities, sending shockwaves across the academic community and raising concerns about the protection of free speech.

       Suri is married with children, but his family has not been given any information about his detention, his sister, Khushnuma Khan, told CNN. That includes their parents who live in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Khan said.

       “We know only as much as anyone else, which is what is reported in the media. We are currently confused about how and why this is happening to him,” she said.

       Khan suggested her younger brother may have been targeted because of his wife.

       “My brother’s wife is from Gaza. So maybe that is why this is happening,” Khan said.

       Suri’s family is praying for him but aren’t afraid because he has done nothing wrong, his sister said. “You can see his record; he has not done anything to deserve this. There are few people in the world who are like him,” she said.

       DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a Wednesday post on X that Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”

       The State Department and DHS declined CNN’s requests for additional comment, and at an event in Florida Thursday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem did not answer questions asked by reporters about Suri.

       McLaughlin also said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a determination on Saturday that “Suri’s activities and presence in the United State rendered him deportable” under an obscure legal statute that gives the secretary of state authority to act if he or she believes a non-citizen would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.

       Hassan Ahmad, an attorney for Suri, told CNN that his client is in Louisiana awaiting a hearing in immigration court and that he spoke to him Wednesday night.

       “I will say that seeing our government abduct and jail another innocent person is beyond contemptible,” Ahmad said in an email to CNN. “And if an accomplished scholar who focuses on conflict resolution is whom the government decides is bad for foreign policy, then perhaps the problem is with the government, not the scholar.”

       Ahmad wrote in a court filing that Suri was targeted because of his wife’s “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech,” the Associated Press reported. She is an American citizen, according to the filing.

       DHS provided no evidence that Suri has committed any crimes and his detention violates his free speech and due process rights, Ahmad wrote in the court filing.

       Court documents supporting Suri’s petition for release were unavailable online as of Thursday morning.

       The postdoctoral fellow “cares deeply” about human rights and peace, another attorney for Suri said.

       “Dr. Khan Suri is a loving husband and father of young children. He was a distinguished faculty member of the prestigious Georgetown University, who specializes in peace and conflict studies, someone who cares deeply about human rights, dignity, peace, and safety for all people,” Nermeen Arastu, an attorney on Suri’s legal team and associate professor of immigration law at CUNY School of Law told CNN.

       When DHS officers came for Suri they were “brandishing weapons” and wore black masks covering their faces, Arastu said.

       “ICE agents came in the night, took him captive, taking him from his wife and children, and hauled him away to an unknown location before transferring him to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana, far from his family and attorneys,” she added. “This is every family’s worst nightmare. And let’s be clear, this happened to him simply because President Trump wants to silence anyone he suspects to hold a political opinion contrary to his.”

       Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist, was arrested earlier this month after the Trump administration accused Khalil – without providing evidence – of being a terrorist sympathizer and supporting Hamas. Khalil faces possible deportation until his case is heard. Khalil was arrested under the same statute used to detain Suri.

       According to Suri’s bio page on the university’s website, he is a fellow at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown’s school of foreign service. He was teaching a class this spring on majoritarianism and minority rights in South Asia.

       CNN’s Evan Perez contributed to this report.