Georgetown students organized a benefit concert for formerly detained Georgetown postdoctoral researcher and professor Badar Khan Suri at Pearl Street Warehouse on Sept. 12. The event featured live music from D.M.V., Fetcher, and Somebody’s Daughter and raised $1,776 in ticket sales, art, and merchandise for Khan Suri’s legal fees.
Federal immigration authorities detained Khan Suri, an Indian national in the U.S. legally on a J-1 exchange visa, outside of his home in Rosslyn, Virginia in March 2025. He was released 58 days later after a judge ruled that his detention violated his rights to due process. His lawyers contend that he was unlawfully detained as retaliation for free speech and familial ties to Palestine through his wife.
While Khan Suri has continued battling in federal courts to avoid redetention, he is scheduled for an immigration hearing on Sept. 15 where he will appeal a previous decision that he is deportable.
Nick Hasbun (CAS ’28), the concert’s main organizer and a former student of Khan Suri’s, organized a similar benefit concert last spring that raised $3,500. For Hasbun, his relationship with Khan Suri and his family motivated him to continue supporting the professor through funding his legal fees and showing community support.
“From getting close to Dr. Suri and meeting his family, it’s all the more important that we support him and show the strength of our community around him,” Hasbun told the Voice. “There’s something very direct we can do. It’s, you know, support him to make sure he has the legal representation he has because he can win his case.”
Khan Suri and his family attended the show, with Khan Suri taking to the stage to express gratitude for the support he received at the concert.
“I’m extremely grateful for everything you guys are doing for me, and everything Nick and every student and every human being has done for me,” Khan Suri told the audience after the first two sets.
Onstage, Khan Suri also recited a brief, self-composed poem that described his experience battling deportation.
“Here we stand, refusing to let fear dictate,” Khan Suri said. “We will reclaim our democracy.”
Khan Suri’s poem was met with enormous applause from the small venue, including from several artists who had joined the crowd. Several student organizers also showed their support afterwards by distributing information regarding his upcoming hearing.
Despite a large turnout at the show, Hasbun said he did not expect these numbers. He noted that only 42 tickets had been sold four days prior to the event, far from the 135 ticket-holders who ultimately attended.
“That was really the hardest part was, I have this idea, but how am I going to actually look at it solidified? You can reach out to a ton of people and maybe one person might get back to you,” Hasbun said.
In addition to ticket sales, Somebody’s Daughter, Fetcher, and D.M.V each tabled during and after the concert, selling merchandise and artwork to raise money for Khan Suri. There were also t-shirts and prints by Khan Suri’s wife and local artists available for sale.
For the musicians at the show, participating in the concert was an opportunity to make a stand. Jason Jones, who plays guitar and sings for Fetcher, discussed what his benefit performance meant to him.
“We don’t like what is happening, so we’re standing up against it in any way we can, and we choose to do it by the thing we’re good at,” Jones said. “It doesn’t feel like our government is serving us.”
Louey Peraza, Fetcher’s co-singer and guitarist, discussed how his background has informed his performance at the benefit show.
“I have on my dad’s side of my family, we’re Venezuelan, so I’m a second-generation American,” Peraza said. “So this definitely hits super close to home, given [the government] going after Venezuelans in particular.”
For members of Somebody’s Daughter, an all trans-women band, performing itself carried political meaning.
“I think our music is political. I think trans women being on stage is political,”singer Miley Giguere said. “You can’t disentangle those things.”
Lybia Homovich, drummer for Somebody’s Daughter, discussed some of her goals for the benefit show.
“If one person in the room is able to feel like that they’re not alone and that they can have the confidence to get involved and take action, I think that’s a net worth,” Homovich said. “That this isn’t just an isolated issue, but the fact that an injustice like this is allowed to happen somewhere means it can happen to any of us.”
The concert reached beyond the Georgetown community. Arjun Kameni, a junior at George Washington University who learned about the event from a flyer on his campus, said the cause prompted him to come to the event.
“It’s just extremely scary to see a community member being targeted for their political views, and I want to be able to help them in whatever way I can to avoid deportation,” Kameni said.
Adam Hamze, who lives in Virginia but has met Khan Suri and is familiar with his case, explained why attended the concert.
“It’s a travesty that somebody whose main principles and philosophies are peace building, and he’s here trying to teach it to Georgetown students, and the Trump administration is trying to deport him for that,” Hamze told the Voice. “I don’t think anybody in the United States of America should be punished for their First Amendment freedom.”
Juan Almanza (CAS ’29) emphasized the importance of student support for Khan Suri, stressing that showing up is a form of political expression in itself.
“Showing up for these events is just part of the way that we can try to mobilize against the bullshit that is happening in our country right now,” Almanza said. “I think this is not the last thing that will happen. This is not the first thing that will happen, and if you care about your professors in this country, come out and mobilize. You have a voice.”
