Alireza Doroudi

The Case of Alireza Doroudi and the Deportation State’s War on Thought

They took him.

No trial. No charge. No explanation.

Alireza Doroudi, a 32-year-old Iranian PhD student in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama, was taken from his home by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 25, 2025. It was before sunrise. Off-campus. No warrant. No heads-up. Just a knock, a pair of cuffs, and silence.

More than a month later, he’s still gone.

DETAINED IN THE DARK

As of May 4, Doroudi remains locked inside the Jena/LaSalle ICE Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana. That’s where they sent him after picking him up in Tuscaloosa like a package being rerouted to a warehouse. He was denied bond. Denied transparency. Denied even the dignity of knowing why.

The official line from the Department of Homeland Security? “Significant national security concerns.”
The supporting evidence? None provided.

ICE hasn’t explained the arrest. DHS hasn’t laid out a case. There’s no indictment. No charges. No hearing with real teeth. Just the looming specter of “national security,” invoked like a spell to strip a student of his future.

THE LOOP OF DOOM

His visa—an F-1 student visa—was revoked in June 2023, without warning or cause. University officials told him he could remain in the U.S. legally as long as he continued his studies. He did. He was fully enrolled. Actively researching. Applying for an EB-1 visa reserved for individuals with “extraordinary ability.”

He was, in every legal sense, following the rules.

But ICE agents came anyway, armed with a decision they didn’t have to explain.

In the hearing that followed, the immigration judge denied him bond—not because of something Doroudi did, but because his visa was already revoked and his ties to the U.S. were “limited.” Translation: You’re suspicious because we made you suspicious.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AS A LIABILITY

Doroudi isn’t an activist. He didn’t protest. He didn’t write op-eds or lead marches. He studied mechanical systems and computational modeling. His attorney, David Rozas, says Doroudi has no criminal record. No political affiliations. No history of activism. Nothing—nothing—to justify the government’s claim that he’s a national security risk.

Rozas has called the case a legal farce:

“He has no access to the actual allegations. He can’t respond to charges he’s never been shown. The burden has been unfairly and absurdly placed on him to disprove a threat no one will define.”

And while he waits, Doroudi sits in a private ICE detention center in Louisiana. A black box. A purgatory. A warning to others.

A COMMUNITY SHAKEN

Back in Tuscaloosa, fear has spread like wildfire.

The Iranian student community is shaken. People are afraid to speak out, to ask questions, to be visible. Professors report a chilling effect in classrooms. The message from ICE is loud and clear: the wrong name, the wrong origin, the wrong moment—and you're next.

Even the University of Alabama’s College Democrats said it out loud:

“Donald Trump, Tom Homan, and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community.”

They’re not wrong.

This wasn’t just about one student. It was a raid with an audience. It was a performance meant to terrify. And it’s working.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF EXILE

Doroudi’s fiancée, Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani, is still in Alabama. She’s been fighting to keep him visible. She started a GoFundMe campaign that’s raised over $21,000 for legal costs. She’s made public statements, filed paperwork, coordinated with lawyers, all while grappling with the reality that the man she loves has been buried alive in the machinery of Trump’s deportation state.

She hasn’t been told when—or if—he’ll be released.

Because ICE doesn’t have to say.

THIS IS WHAT ACADEMIC REPRESSION LOOKS LIKE

This isn’t about “illegal immigration.” This isn’t about border crossings. This is about targeted silence. About turning the pursuit of knowledge into a risk factor. Doroudi was extraordinary. That’s what made him a target.

When a government starts detaining engineers from Iran with spotless records, no charges, and glowing academic credentials, it’s not fighting terrorism. It’s fighting intelligence.

It’s fighting curiosity.

It’s fighting hope.

WHERE IS HE NOW?

He’s sitting in Jena, Louisiana. Still detained. Still waiting. Still labeled a threat without a trial.

America should be ashamed.

And we won’t stop saying his name.

Alireza Doroudi.

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