Only 4 days late BBC - Quakers condemn arrests of activists at meeting house
I'm tempted to write to our Merseyside PPC and ask if the Liverpool Quaker meeting house, and other gatherings to plan peaceful protests, will be safe from police invasions
A #RightWing Jewish group said some identified w/the tool were on a list of names it gave to #Trump’s admin, urging that they be deported in accordance w/his call for the expulsion of foreign #students who participated in “pro-jihadist” #protests.
Other pro-#Israel groups have enlisted help from supporters on #campuses, urging them to report foreign students who participated in protests against the war in #Gaza to #ICE.
“Months of them hiding their faces went down the drain!” a fledgling #technology company boasted in a social media post, claiming its #FacialRecognition tool had identified the woman despite the coverings.
She was anything but a lone target. The same software was also used to review images taken during months of pro-#Palestinian marches at #US #colleges.
Private groups work to identify & report #student #protesters for possible #deportation
When a protester was caught on video in January at a NY rally against #Israel, only her eyes were visible between a mask & headscarf. But days later, photos of her entire face, along w/her name & employer, were circulated online.
#Trump #immigration #law #FacialRecognition #technology #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #FreedomOfAssembly #dissent #CivilRights
https://apnews.com/article/trump-foreign-students-campus-gaza-protests-deportation-9e2d4abc1c158454da1f68c01062c9ef
Here is the text of the email sent to hundreds of international #students telling them that
their #visas have been revoked due to #activism or #SocialMedia posts.
![[first paragraph] “On behalf of the United States Department of State, the Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Office hereby informs you that additional information became available after your visa was issued. As a result, your F-1 visa with expiration date XXXXX was revoked in accordance with Section 221(i) of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended."](https://s3.masto.ai/media_attachments/files/114/247/830/669/610/776/original/dfac7d2fb1ec8a04.png "[first paragraph] “On behalf of the United States Department of State, the Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Office hereby informs you that additional information became available after your visa was issued. As a result, your F-1 visa with expiration date XXXXX was revoked in accordance with Section 221(i) of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.\"")
*** This report may not be accurate. Times of India is the only outlet reporting it. ***
Hundreds of international #students have received an email telling them their #visas have been revoked.
The ‘justification’ is campus #activism or #SocialMedia posts.
#Trump #immigration #law #Constitution #CivilRights #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #FreedomOfAssembly #Education #Universities #Colleges #ThoughtPolice #ViewPointDiscrimination #dissent #NaziState
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/hundreds-of-international-students-are-waking-up-to-an-email-asking-them-to-self-deport-for-campus-activism-or-even-sharing-posts-on-social-media/articleshow/119679695.cms
#PineAndRoses #NewEngland #DSA protests #ICEDetentions
Posted by #MaineDSA and Wes Pelletier | Mar 27, 2025
"Last week, the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine organized a protest of ICE detention of #ColumbiaUniversity student leader #MahmoudKhalil. Since then, ICE has operated as the #Trump Administration’s #SecretPolice, abducting a growing number of immigrant organizers for exercising their right to #FreeSpeech and protesting the U.S.-sponsored #genocide in #Gaza. The list includes #RumeysaOzturk, #YunseoChung, #BadarKhunSuri, #MomodouTaal, #RanjaniSrinivasan, as well as #farmworker organizer #AlfredoJuarezZerefino. Maine DSA member and Portland District 2 City Councilmember #WesPelletier spoke at the Portland Mahmoud Khalil protest and DSA chapters around New England issued a joint declaration reprinted below against the ICE abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk.
New England DSA chapters demand freedom for Rumeysa Ozturk
"Yesterday, ICE agents abducted Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student and pro-Palestine activist at Tufts.
"The kidnapping comes after almost 400 #ICEArrests in Massachusetts, as well as the #doxxing of Ozturk by the pro-Isreal website #CanaryMission.
"ICE’s abductions—of Ozturk, Khalil, and many others—is an unprecedented attack on basic #CivilRights in the name of U.S. Empire, whether those detained are peaceful #PoliticalActivists or undocumented #migrants seeking safety, jobs, and a better life.
"We must stand up against this brazen attack on #Palestine, #FreeSpeech, and the #RightToProtest.
"We must stand in solidarity with our neighbors and communities under attack from Trump, ICE, and all agents of #imperialism.
"Governor Healey, the courts, and the Democratic Party establishment are not coming to save us—we must mobilize, agitate, and organize in our workplaces and campuses to defend working-class rights.
In Solidarity,
#BerkshiresDSA, #BostonDSA, #BostonUniversityYDSA, #CapeCodDSA, #ConnecticutDSA, #MaineDSA, #NortheasternYDSA, #RiverValleyDSA, #SimmonsYDSA, #SouthernNewHampshireDSA, #UpperValleyDSA, #WorcesterDSA"
Source:
https://pineandroses.org/news/new-england-dsa-protests-ice-detentions/
#ResistICE #ResistFascism #Resistance #District13 #District13Resists #Fascism #USPol #Authoritarianism #TurReich #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#RümeysaÖztürk's filing contains a paragraph each on the similar treatment of #RanjaniSrinivasan, #MahmoudKahlil, #YunseoChung, #BadarKhanSuri, & #MomodouTaal.
It also quotes 
#MarcoRubio:
#RümeysaÖztürk's attorneys include in their filing that her arrest & detention — without any notice — is not a necessary or usual part of #visa revocation but an experience "designed to #silence her, #punish her for her #speech, & ensure that other #students will be chilled from expressing pro-#Palestinian viewpoints."
New details of #RümeysaÖztürk's #StateSponsoredAbduction:
A rep of the Turkish consulate went looking for Öztürk at an #ICE office in suburban Massachusetts. Her lawyer called hospitals, worried she might have had a dangerous #asthma attack. [anxiety can induce attacks & no doubt they took her inhaler] & of course, she did have an attack & didn’t have her medication.
Earlier this month, 16 Just Stop Oil activists have had some MINOR reductions to their RECORD BREAKING sentences for PEACEFUL protests.
But these sentences still represent an ATTACK on our DEMOCRATIC RIGHT to peacefully make our voices heard.
It’s absurd to jail peaceful protesters while giving a free pass to the Big Polluters robbing us of a habitable planet.
In an amended petition for #HabeasCorpus, #RümeysaÖztürk's attorneys—now including the #ACLU—describe her arrest & detention as "part of a concerted & systemic effort by #Trump administration officials to #punish #students & others identified with pro-#Palestine activism."
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.282503/gov.uscourts.mad.282503.12.0.pdf
American Association of University Professors [#AAUP] v. #Rubio
A case challenging the #Trump administration’s policy of ideological deportation.
"On March 25, 2025, the Knight Institute filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy of arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian activism. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), AAUP’s #Harvard, #NYU, and #Rutgers campus chapters, and the #MiddleEastStudies Association, argues that the policy chills noncitizens from speaking and, by extension, robs these organizations and their U.S. citizen members of noncitizens’ perspectives on a matter of significant public debate.
"The lawsuit responds to a climate of repression and fear on university campuses. Federal agencies are attempting to deport multiple individuals for their #ProPalestinian advocacy, including #MahmoudKhalil, a leader of protests at Columbia University. These actions have sent chills through the community of noncitizen students and faculty on campuses around the country, causing some to pull out of academic conferences, stay home from #protests, and withdraw from other forms of public advocacy and engagement.
"The lawsuit alleges that the administration’s policy of ideological deportation violates the First Amendment right of the plaintiffs to hear from and associate with noncitizen students and faculty, that it is unconstitutionally vague, and that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act. The suit seeks a court order declaring that the policy is unlawful and enjoining the federal government from enforcing it."
Status: Complaint filed on March 25, 2025.
Case Information: American Association of University Professors v. Rubio, No. 1:25-cv-10685 (D.Mass).
https://knightcolumbia.org/cases/aaup-v-rubio
#YunseoChung #RightToProtest #SilencingDissent #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #law
#immigration #FreeSpeech #MarcoRubio #Trump #FreedomOfAssembly #Authoritarianism #Palestine #CriminalizingDissent #HigherEducation
Looks like the American Association of University Professors agrees with me!
#AAUP, Allies Sue over #Trump Policy of Arresting and Threatening to Deport #Students and #Faculty for #LawfulSpeech
"The national AAUP; chapters at #Harvard, #Rutgers, and #NYU; and the #MiddleEastStudies Association today filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members who participate in #ProPalestinian #protests and other protected #FirstAmendment activities.
"We believe that the administration’s ideological-deportation policy violates the First Amendment by targeting constitutionally protected speech that Americans have a right to hear and engage with. The policy has created a climate of fear and repression on campuses around the country. We are represented in the case by the #KnightFirstAmendmentInstitute at #ColumbiaUniversity, #AhilanArulanantham, and Zimmer, Citron & Clarke LLP.
"Following executive orders issued by President Trump in January, the federal agencies that enforce immigration laws have arrested and detained several people associated with U.S. colleges and universities, including a legal permanent resident, on the basis of constitutionally protected speech and association.
"Today’s filing argues that the ideological-deportation policy has created a climate of #repression and intense fear on university #campuses, 'terrorizing students and faculty for their exercise of First Amendment rights in the past, intimidating them from exercising those rights now, and silencing political viewpoints that the government disfavors.'
"'The Trump administration is going after international #scholars and students who speak their minds about #Palestine, but make no mistake: they won't stop there. They'll come next for those who teach the history of #slavery or who provide #GenderAffirming health care or who research #ClimateChange or who counsel students about their reproductive choices. We all have to draw a line together—as the old labor movement slogan says: an injury to one is an injury to all,' says AAUP President Todd Wolfson.
"'The First Amendment means the government can’t arrest, detain, or deport people for lawful political expression—it’s as simple as that. This practice is one we’d ordinarily associate with the most repressive political regimes, and it should have no place in our democracy,' says #JameelJaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute."
Source:
https://www.aaup.org/news/aaup-allies-sue-over-trump-policy-arresting-and-threatening-deport-students-and-faculty-lawful
#RightToProtest #SilencingDissent #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #law
#immigration #FreeSpeech #MarcoRubio #Trump #FreedomOfAssembly #Authoritarianism #Palestine #CriminalizingDissent #HigherEducation
Good news (for now)
Judge Orders #US to Stop Attempts to #Deport #Columbia Undergrad
The #Trump admin had been seeking to arrest & deport #YunseoChung, who immigrated from South Korea as a child & is a #GreenCard holder, after she participated in a pro-#Palestinian sit-in.
#immigration #law #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #democracy #authoritarianism #dissent
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/nyregion/columbia-university-protester-chung-deportation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=5C6C987B-9585-4051-BA86-E26F1D77E60C
New #Trump demand to #colleges: Name #protesters — & their nationalities
The demand for #student information came after the admin promised to #deport non-citizens who participated in what it called “pro-jihadist protests”
#immigration #law #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #democracy #authoritarianism #dissent
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/03/25/trump-administration-campus-antisemitism-investigations/
The decision to target noncitizens who participate in pro-#Palestinian #protest activity and speech, the lawsuit argues, has created a broadly chilling effect on what can be heard on college campuses.
Professors Sue #Trump Admin Over Arrests of Campus Protesters
The lawsuit says the detention of noncitizen #students & #faculty members deprives US citizens of their right to engage with foreign-born peers.
#immigration #law #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #democracy #authoritarianism #dissent
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/nyregion/professors-sue-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=C3943887-A1F9-454A-B3EE-835680EF3F6D
