DHS: Alabama student Alireza Doroudi posed ‘significant national security concerns' prior to ICE detainment

Yahoo

28-03-2025

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — An Iranian student at the University of Alabama was detained and put in jail by immigration officers after it was considered that he allegedly represented 'significant national security concerns,' according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In its first statement since the arrest of Alireza Doroudi, a 22-year-old doctoral student studying mechanical engineering at UA, a representative from the department has shed some light on its decision for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pick him up outside his home in Tuscaloosa Tuesday morning.
'ICE HSI made this arrest in accordance with the State Department's revocation of Doroudi's student visa,' the department told CBS 42 in a written statement. 'This individual posed significant national security concerns.'
The story first broke Wednesday afternoon, when The Crimson White, the university's student newspaper, reported on Doroudi's detaintment by ICE. In the report, CW Editor-in Chief Maven Navvaro wrote about a student text chain alleging that Doroudi, who is originally from Iran, had been living in the country on a revoked student visa, but that he had been assured by university officials that he would be fine.
'After receiving the revocation notice, Alireza immediately contacted ISSS (International Student and Scholar Services) at the University of Alabama,' the message stated. 'ISSS replied with confidence, stating that his case was not unusual or problematic and that he could remain in the U.S. legally as long as he maintained his student status.'
On Thursday afternoon, an employee at the Pickens County Sheriff's Department confirmed that Doroudi was being held at its jail until ICE officers pick him up and take him to an as-yet-to-be determined location. The source said Doroudi had been at the jail since Tuesday night.
Outside of saying that Doroudi posed 'significant national security concerns,' DHS has not specified what he had allegedly done or what he was charged with. The only run-in Doroudi has had with the law was a speeding and reckless driving ticket he received in November 2023, a few months after first arriving in America.
Doroudi's detainment comes amid a nationwide crackdown on immigration by ICE, leading to some controversy over the justifications by the department.
No other information has been released.
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