Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, has given up his effort to fight his deportation.
Before his arrest in his apartment March 25, Doroudi was about to complete a degree in mechanical engineering and was soon to be married to a fellow Iranian student at the university.
Now, the man who came to the United States over two years ago to chase his version of the “American Dream” will soon be going back to Iran, a choice he made after being detained by immigration officers for 42 days.
During a court hearing May 8, Doroudi asked an immigration judge in Jena, Louisiana, to allow him to deport himself back to Iran, which Judge Maithe Gonzalez granted.
Despite the US Department of Homeland Security labeling Doroudi as posing “significant security concerns,” no evidence was ever produced to suggest he was a threat. In fact, with the exception of a speeding ticket in Greene County, Alabama, Doroudi has no criminal record.
David Rozas, Doroudi’s attorney, said that during the hearing, Doroudi looked at him and said, “I love this country, but they don’t want me here so I will go home.”
Rozas said, “In the face of this legal uncertainty and prolonged detention, Mr. Doroudi chose to leave voluntarily. This is not only a loss for him personally, but a setback for our system. When due process is delayed or denied, when charges are sustained without standing, and when individuals are forced to choose between uncertain length of detention in a country they feel no longer wants them, or leaving voluntarily, we must ask what kind of precedent we are setting not just for foreign students, but for fairness and justice in America.”
In January 2023, Doroudi came to America through a student visa he acquired from the US Embassy in Oman. Within a few months, his visa had been inexplicably revoked, but his lawyers and a student group assured him his legal status was sound, and he could remain in the country as long as he was a student. At the time of his arrest, he was reportedly applying for permanent residency in the US.
“The only charges brought against Mr. Doroudi were the revocation of his F-1 student visa and an allegation of ‘not being in status.’ However, the documentation submitted regarding the visa revocation made it clear that the revocation would only take effect upon his departure from the United States, not while he remained here,” Rozas said.
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acknowledged this and indicated during the hearing [May 8] their intention to drop the charge. This acknowledges that the initial reason for arrest 45 days ago was an error.”
Rozas said Doroudi made the decision to self-deport after Gonzalez required DHS to submit their claims in writing and refused to grant bond until it had been put in writing.
Doroudi, 32, remained in Jena after the hearing and no date has been set for his release.
Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani, Doroudi’s fiancee, previously told CBS how difficult the whole ordeal had been on both of them and how they were not keen on remaining in the US anymore.
“Even if they let us stay, we would’ve completed our degrees and we would’ve left in the earliest time,” she said. “This is not a place to live. This is not a place to live the happy life and dream. This is not the freedom and American dream that they always talk about. It’s just something that is just for a group of people, not for everyone.”
Doroudi was set to complete his degree next year.
He was clearly most peeved that the US government held him detention for six weeks before his hearing. “I didn’t deserve this. If they just sent me a letter asking me to appear in court, I would’ve come, because I didn’t do anything illegal. I stayed with their permission,” Doroudi said in a letter he dictated to Bajgani over the phone. “What was the reason for throwing me in jail.”
The judge who denied Doroudi bond in mid-April said he had failed to prove he wasn’t a national security threat. Rozas said he was flabbergasted at that because the government had not presented any evidence to support the allegation that Doroudi was a threat. Rozas pointed out that the basic rule of justice in the US is that the prosecution must prove an individual guilty; it is not the task of the individual to prove himself innocent.
More than 1,000 foreign students across the US had their visas revoked under Trump. They include some who protested the US policy on the war in Gaza. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has since reversed all those Gaza revocations. Doroudi was not a Gaza protester, and the prosecution never suggested he was.