MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) 鈥 An Iranian mechanical engineering student at the University of Alabama has decided to self-deport after six weeks in a Louisiana detention center despite the government dropping a charge behind his initial arrest, his lawyer and fiancee said.
Alireza Doroudi was officials in March as part of President Donald Trump鈥檚 widespread and has been held at a facility in Jena, Louisiana, over 300 miles (480 kilometers) from where he lived with his fiancee in Alabama.
At the time the State Department said Doroudi posed 鈥渟ignificant national security concerns.鈥
Doroudi鈥檚 lawyer, David Rozas, said the government has not offered any evidence to support that claim, however.
Doroudi鈥檚 visa was revoked in June 2023. Officials did not give a reason and ignored numerous inquiries from him that year, according to his fiancee, Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani.
Back then the University of Alabama advised Doroudi that he was legally allowed to stay but would not be allowed to re-enter if he left, Bajgani added.
This spring the government filed two charges against Doroudi to justify deporting him, saying his visa was revoked and he was not 鈥渋n status鈥 as a student, Rozas said.
On Thursday a U.S. government attorney withdrew the first of those and said the visa revocation was 鈥減rudential,鈥 meaning it would not go into effect until after he leaves the country 鈥 in line with what the university told Doroudi earlier.
Rozas said he has submitted evidence disputing the remaining accusation, that he is not an active student.
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the case, including Rozas鈥 characterization of the initial arrest as an error.
The judge in the case, Maithe Gonzalez, gave both sides until the end of May to refile motions and denied Doroudi鈥檚 request to redetermine eligibility for bond. Doroudi decided to give up rather than continue to fight deportation.
鈥淗e told me that if they let him to go out, there was a good chance that he would have fought his case for the sake of other students and for the sake of himself,鈥 Bajgani said afterward by phone. 鈥淭hey just want to make him tired so he can deport himself.鈥
Bajgani, who drove 11 hours round-trip to attend the hourlong hearing, echoed Rozas鈥 confusion about why Doroudi was targeted for deportation, saying he has no criminal record, entered the country legally and was not politically outspoken who have been targeted.
She affectionately as a 鈥渘erd鈥 and 鈥渁 really big thinker鈥 who spent long days in the lab and enjoys anime. He does not deserve what happened to him, she said, and now the life they built in Alabama is over.
鈥淚 am not happy about the whole thing that happened to us, and I need time to grieve for what I am going to put behind and leave,鈥 Bajgani said. 鈥淎ll the dreams, friendships and dreams we had with each other.鈥
In a letter to Bajgani from behind bars in April, Doroudi called his detention a 鈥減ure injustice.鈥
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 cause any trouble in this country,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 enter illegally. I followed all the legal paths.鈥
Rozas said he has not seen such a case in his 21 years as an immigration attorney. He accused authorities of denying his client due process and forcing him to choose between indefinite detention and self-deporting.
鈥淚鈥檓 absolutely devastated,鈥 Rozas said, 鈥渁nd I think it鈥檚 a travesty of justice.鈥
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Riddle is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
