High winds continue to threaten Oklahoma after wildfires destroyed and damaged hundreds of homes

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Days after deadly fires swept across Oklahoma, Andrine Shufran and her husband spent Monday raking through the ashes of their home in a neighborhood that she said “looks like a checkerboard” as officials warned that high winds this week will again raise wildfire risk in the state.

“There’s no predictability or fairness about destroyed houses,” Shufran said. “There’s only two options for the homes in our neighborhood: standing or burned to the ground.”

Over 400 homes were severely damaged or destroyed in the outbreak of wildfires that started Friday in Oklahoma. At least four people died due to the fires or high winds, including a person who died in a vehicle accident as a result of poor visibility due to dust or smoke, officials said.

While calm weather over the weekend helped crews get a handle on most wildfires burning across Texas and Oklahoma, forecasters at the National Weather Service said extremely critical fire weather conditions were expected Tuesday over an area spanning from southeastern New Mexico through the Texas Panhandle and into western Oklahoma.

“These fires, once they get started, become really hard to stop," said Keith Merckx of Oklahoma Forestry Services. "They move more quickly than our resources can keep up with.”

He said officials will be returning their attention toward western and central Oklahoma, where high winds are expected to pick back up again over the next few days.

In Stillwater, a city of about 50,000 about 65 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City and home to Oklahoma State University, over 70 homes were destroyed by wildfires. The toll included Shufran's house, which burned to the ground in a matter of hours.

The smell of plastic lingered as she and her husband sifted through the remnants of their home.

Shufran, a director at Insect Adventure — a petting zoo part of OSU and the university’s extension campuses, said current and former students, friends and city officials have stepped in to help her and her husband.

“I’ve been more overwhelmed by how fantastic Oklahomans are when they’re friends with you, or neighbors with you, because we’ve had so many people reach out,” Shufran said.

Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce warned on Facebook on Monday afternoon of worsening fire conditions in the area.

“Be prepared to take action quickly, if necessary,” he wrote.

Southwest of Stillwater, residents in two parts of rural Logan County were urged to evacuate their homes Monday afternoon after wildfires that already burned more than 47 square miles (120 square kilometers) in the county since Friday picked back up amid high winds and dry conditions. An evacuation shelter had been set up at the county fairgrounds in Guthrie, said Logan County Deputy Emergency Management Director Shawn Pierce.

Pierce said an estimated 54 homes were destroyed in last week’s fire in the county, which is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City.

About an hour's drive west in Chandler, Deborah Ferguson told News 9 that her husband, Allen Ferguson, died after fighting a wildfire in a pasture with their 15-year-old son. She said that as they fled on a four-wheeler, it crashed into a tree in the heavy smoke.

State Rep. Jim Shaw said in a statement Monday that Ferguson was a “beloved youth wrestling coach" who died while trying to save his son, who remains in critical condition.

About 10 fires continued to burn in Texas on Monday as officials geared up for more high winds Tuesday, said Texas A&M Forest Service spokesperson Erin O'Connor.

Although most of the fires have been contained due to slower winds Sunday, Texas officials are expecting wildfire danger to ramp up further into the week, O'Connor said.

AP reporter Sean Murphy contributed to this report from Oklahoma City.

Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Andrine Shufran, right, looks through the ashes that are left of her home in the Hidden Oaks neighborhood in Stillwater, Okla., Monday, March 17, 2025, after wildfires burned through the area Friday. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Fire crews and volunteers battle hot spots and new fires about 8 miles west of Stillwater, Okla., on Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Fire crews and volunteers battle hot spots and new fires several miles west of Stillwater, Okla., Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Cayton Jones, left, and his family look through the ashes of his home in the Hidden Oaks neighborhood in Stillwater, Okla., Monday, March 17, 2025, after wildfires burned through the area on Friday. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Fire crews and volunteers battle hot spots and new fires 8 miles west of Stillwater, Okla. on Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

New fires burn several miles west of Stillwater, Okla., Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Cayton Jones, left, and his family look through the ashes of his home in the Hidden Oaks neighborhood in Stillwater, Okla., Monday, March 17, 2025, after wildfires burned through the area on Friday. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

An aerial view of Andrine Shufran's burned home in the Hidden Oaks neighborhood in Stillwater, Okla., Monday, March 17, 2025, after wildfires burned through the area Friday. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Cayton Jones, front, walks through the ashes that are left of his home in the Hidden Oaks neighborhood in Stillwater, Okla., on Monday, March 17, 2025, after wildfires burned through the area on Friday. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Friends and students of home owner Andrine Shufran, look through the ashes that are left of her home in the Hidden Oaks neighborhood in Stillwater, Okla. on Monday, March 17, 2025 after wildfires burned through the area Friday. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Andrine Shufran, right, looks through the ashes that are left of her home in the Hidden Oaks neighborhood in Stillwater, Okla., Monday, March 17, 2025, after wildfires burned through the area Friday. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

An aerial view of Andrine Shufran's burned home in the Hidden Oaks neighborhood in Stillwater, Okla., Monday, March 17, 2025, after wildfires burned through the area Friday. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

A dog sits in the front yard as a Stillwater, Okla., resident assesses the damage in the Crosswinds and Pecan Hill communities, Saturday, March 15, 2025, due to Friday's wildfires on the west side of town. (Jason Elmquist/The News Press via AP)

Stillwater, Okla., residents asses the damage in the Crosswinds and Pecan Hill communities due to Friday's wildfires on the west side of town, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Jason Elmquist/The News Press via AP)

Stillwater, Okla., residents show support to some of the victims of lost homes on Saturday, March 15, 2025, due to Friday's wildfires in the Crosswinds and Pecan Hill communities on the west side of town. (Jason Elmquist/The News Press via AP)

Residents of Deer Run at Lake Carl Blackwell, near Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday, March 15, 2025, assess the damage from Friday's wildfires. (Jason Elmquist/The News Press via AP)

A row of houses on the west edge of Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, March 15, 2025, were among more than 50 homes and structures burned down due to wildfires. (Jason Elmquist/The News Press via AP)

Stillwater, Okla., residents assesses the damage in the Crosswinds and Pecan Hill communities on Saturday, March 15, 2025, due to Friday's wildfires on the west side of town. (Jason Elmquist/The News Press via AP)

Several RVs and a truck burned from Friday's wildfires not far from a larger structure that burned at Pecan Valley RV Park shown Saturday, March 15, 2025, on the west edge of Stillwater, Okla. (Jason Elmquist/The News Press via AP)

BOSTON (AP) — Homeland Security officials on Monday said that a doctor from Lebanon who was deported over the weekend despite having a U.S. visa “openly admitted” to supporting a Hezbollah leader and attending his funeral.

The department's statement, posted on social media, provides a possible explanation for Dr. Rasha Alawieh's deportation, which has sparked widespread alarm, especially after a federal judge ordered that she not be removed until a hearing could be held. Government lawyers have said customs officials did not get word until after Alawieh was sent back to Lebanon.

“A visa is a privilege not a right — glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is commonsense security,” Homeland Security said in its statement.

It’s the latest deportation of a foreign-born person with a U.S. visa, after Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead protests of the Gaza war at Columbia University, was arrested and a doctoral student's visa was revoked. The Trump administration also transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations.

Stephanie Marzouk, Alawieh’s lawyer, said she would not stop fighting to get the 34-year-old doctor back in the U.S., “to see her patients where she should be.”

Marzouk did not immediately return a request for comment surrounding Homeland Security’s allegations that Alawieh supported a Hezbollah leader.

The Justice Department has also detailed its reasons for deporting Alawieh in court filings, but a federal judge has sealed those documents.

News outlets that obtained those records before they were sealed reported that Alawieh had photos on her phone of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group for the past three decades. The Boston Globe reported she also had pictures of Hezbollah “fighters and martyrs” on her phone.

“According to Dr. Alawieh, she follows him for his religious and spiritual teachings and not his politics," the court documents stated.

When asked why she deleted the photos days before arriving in Boston, Alawieh allegedly told officers: “Because I didn’t want the perception. But I know I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not related to anything politically or militarily.”

Alawieh was granted the visa on March 11 and arrived at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday, according to a complaint filed on her behalf by a cousin in federal court.

Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was detained at least 36 hours, the complaint said. She was to start work at Brown University as an assistant professor of medicine.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin issued an order Friday that an in-person hearing be scheduled Monday, with Alawieh brought to court.

On Saturday, the cousin filed a motion saying customs officials “willfully” disobeyed the order by sending Alawieh back to Lebanon.

Lawyers for the government said in a court filing Monday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Boston airport did not receive notice of the order until she “had already departed the United States,” the judge noted. They asked that the petition be dismissed.

Alawieh worked at Brown prior to the issuance of her H1B visa, the complaint said. It said she has held fellowships and residencies at three universities in the U.S.

A spokesperson for Brown said Alawieh is an employee of Brown Medicine with a clinical appointment to Brown.

Brown Medicine is a not-for-profit medical practice that is its own organization and serves its own patients directly. It is affiliated with Brown University's medical school.

On Monday, a handful of Alawieh’s colleagues stood outside Boston’s federal courthouse to support her.

“She is one of three transplant nephrologists in the entire state of Rhode Island, which, you know, also serves the parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut,” said Dr. Susie Hu. “Her absence is really detrimental to our program.”

Dr. Douglas Shemin, who said he hired Alawieh at Brown Medicine, called her an “outstanding” clinician, physician and teacher who eagerly put in long hours without complaining.

Brown Medicine has roughly 300 to 400 patients awaiting kidney transplants, according to Shemin. Each needs regular evaluations.

More than 100 people gathered in the rain outside the Rhode Island Statehouse on Monday evening to rally in support of Alawieh, holding signs reading “Dr. Rasha Has Rights” and “We cannot tolerate this!”

Dr. Paul Morrissey, director of the organ transplantation division at Brown, said at the rally that he was shocked that Alawieh was deported and that patients will experience a delay in care because of it.

“Rasha is a first-class human being — a very talented physician — and it will be America’s loss if we can’t have her back in Rhode Island,” he said.

Speaking at the rally, Brown University student Kai Blades called the deportation part of a broader pattern of political repression.

“We’re here to stand in opposition to deportations, in opposition to racism and in opposition to the fascist state terror that has been used not only against our beloved community member Rasha, but others like Mahmoud Khalil,” Blades said. “We are here to stay. We’re going to stand up for our community and we’re going to be as loud as possible when they’re under attack."

Dr. Mindy Saboda, an internal medicine colleague, said Alawieh had been returning to the U.S. after visiting family in Lebanon for the first time in six years.

Her daughter, Ada Sobota-Walden, a high school student, called the deportation upsetting.

“We need to stand up when things like this happen because otherwise they’ll keep happening,” Sobota-Walden said.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student, requested Monday that he be released on bail or returned to New York from a Louisiana detention facility.

In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, the lawyers wrote that the treatment of Khalil meant “every noncitizen must wonder whether they will face retaliation for engaging in speech on issues of public concern or critical of the U.S. government.” It seemed designed to “prevent Mr. Khalil — and many others — from speaking in this country at all,” they added.

———

This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the doctor’s last name throughout. Her name is Rasha Alawieh, not Rasha Alawiech.

McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire, and Kruesi reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press journalist Larry Neumeister in New York also contributed.

Protesters rally outside the Rhode Island State House in support of deported Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Protesters rally outside the Rhode Island State House in support of deported Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A protester holds a "Freeze I.C.E." sign during a rally outside the Rhode Island State House in support of deported Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, Monday, March 17, 2025 in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Protesters rally outside the Rhode Island State House in support of deported Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Protesters rally outside the Rhode Island State House in support of deported Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Protesters rally outside the Rhode Island State House in support of deported Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Protesters rally outside the Rhode Island State House in support of deported Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Protesters rally outside the Rhode Island State House in support of deported Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

People walk past the the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Attorney Stephanie Marzouk, who represents deported Brown University Dr. Rasha Alawieh, speaks to reporters outside the Moakley Federal Courthouse, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

FILE - Pedestrians make their way past a building housing the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Jan. 30, 2019, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott, File)