Dr. Rasha Alawieh studied and worked on kidney transplant cases in the United States, including in Rhode Island, under the legal protection of a H-1B work visa. That was, until she was deported to her native Lebanon on Friday.

BOSTON (AP) — A doctor from Lebanon who arrived at the Boston airport was deported over the weekend without explanation, despite having a U.S. visa and a job teaching at Brown University. A judge had ordered she not be sent back until there was a hearing, but government lawyers said customs officials did not get word in time.

Alawieh has been in the US since 2018 when she came on a student visa. As Alawieh arrived at the Boston airport Thursday, she was denied entry as CBP