Portland physics student flees Trump crackdown, months from earning his doctorate

The risk seemed far too great.

Portland State University graduate student Abdul Almutairi learned Thursday he was one of 23 international students in Oregon targeted by the Trump administration for deportation.

Haunted by video footage of a Tufts University graduate student who was whisked away by federal agents and sent to an immigration detention center in Louisiana, Almutairi made a quick decision.

Even though the student in his 30s was just months away from earning his doctoral degree in physics at PSU, he dashed to his apartment, packed what he could carry and headed for Seattle, where he boarded a plane back home to Kuwait.

The Department of Homeland Security gave no reason for terminating Almutairi’s visa, according to his graduate school supervisor, physics professor Erik Sanchez. But his student did absolutely nothing wrong, he said.

“This is really, really upsetting,” Sanchez said. “If you met him, you would love him. He’s amazing. This is wrong. People need to know that this is happening and this is wrong.”

Jay Nadeau, another physics professor at PSU, echoed the praise for the graduate student. Almutairi, she said, “was a terrific student,” adding that “we don’t know why they went after him.”

The Trump administration has ordered the removal of international students across the United States and Oregon, including two others at PSU. Oregon State University has seen the largest number of student visa revocations, with 13 students ordered to leave the country as of last week.

But Almutairi is the first in Oregon to come forward publicly. Although he didn’t feel comfortable answering questions from The Oregonian/OregonLive, he agreed to be named by the newspaper.

Sanchez said Almutairi was able to get support from PSU officials and an immigration attorney after learning of his visa revocation last week. Still, he felt he had no choice but to leave the country immediately. If he were detained, he had no way of knowing where he would end up — or for how long.

Sanchez, whose work focuses on the development of novel forms of energy, said he’s working with university officials to try to maintain Almutairi’s enrollment so he can still earn his Ph.D. this summer.

Sanchez called Almutairi his “top student,” and said he was conducting research as part of a three-year, $800,000 Department of Energy grant to study fusion, an energy release process, using the university’s fusion reactor. Specifically, he was helping to develop a new imaging system to increase the efficiency of fusion reactors, Sanchez said.

“He has been a critical person for our own reactor design and improvement, in addition to helping our nation’s fusion efforts,” he added.

(The grant itself was initially slashed by the Trump administration, Sanchez said, but it was restored through a court injunction.)

Now Sanchez will have to find someone to replace Almutairi, who spoke with his graduate school supervisor Monday and still appeared shaken.

“He was only months away from getting his Ph.D.,” Sanchez said. “This makes no sense at all.”

— Yesenia Amaro is an investigative reporter with a focus on social issues and communities of color. Do you have a news tip related to immigration, deportations or publicly funded programs designed to help immigrant Oregonians? Get in touch, 503-221-4395; [email protected].

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