Private groups work to identify and report #StudentProtesters for possible #deportation

“Now they’re using tools of the state to actually go after people,” said a Columbia graduate student from South Asia who has been active in protests and spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about losing her visa. “We suddenly feel like we’re being forced to think about our survival.”

By ADAM GELLER, March 29, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — "When a protester was caught on video in January at a New York rally against Israel, only her eyes were visible between a mask and headscarf. But days later, photos of her entire face, along with her name and employer, were circulated online.

"'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 #ProPalestinian marches at U.S. colleges. A #RightWingJewish group said some people identified with the tool were on a list of names it submitted to President Donald #Trump’s administration, urging that they be deported in accordance with his call for the expulsion of foreign students who participated in 'pro-jihadist' protests.

"Other #ProIsrael groups have enlisted help from supporters on campuses, urging them to report foreign students who participated in protests against the war in #Gaza to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-foreign-students-campus-gaza-protests-deportation-9e2d4abc1c158454da1f68c01062c9ef
#ICERaids #ICEDetentions #ICEArrests #SilencingDissent #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #MahmoudKhalil #RumeysaOzturk, #YunseoChung #BadarKhunSuri #MomodouTaal #ResistICE #Fascism #Project2025 #ProjectEsther #Authoritarianism #TurdReich

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

American Association of University Professors [#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

FULL ON NAZI MODE!!!

Immigration officials arrest second person who participated in #ProPalestinian protests at Columbia

By Larry Neumeister
Updated 5:50 PM EDT, March 14, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — "The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether #ColumbiaUniversity concealed 'illegal aliens' on its campus, one of its top officials said Friday, as the Trump administration intensified its campaign to deport foreigners who participated in pro-#Palestinian demonstrations at the school last year.

"Agents with the Department of Homeland Security searched two university residences with a warrant Thursday evening. No one was arrested and it was unclear whom the authorities were searching for, but by Friday afternoon U.S. officials had announced developments related to two people they had pursued in connection with the demonstrations.

"A Columbia doctoral student from #India whose visa was revoked by the Trump administration fled the U.S. on an airliner. And a Palestinian woman who had been arrested during the protests at the university last April was arrested by federal immigration authorities in Newark, New Jersey, on charges that she overstayed an expired visa."

https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-arrests-3a8db6e646b786a721089a6f0bc8d9fc
#ICE #ICEDetention #DHS #Fascism #Authoritarianism #FreeMahmoudKhalil #DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #CharacteristicsOfFascism #ResistFascism #USPol

#Jewish protesters flood #TrumpTower's lobby to demand the #ColumbiaUniversity #activist's release

by Cedar Attanasio, AP, 3/13/2025

New York — "Demonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of #TrumpTower on Thursday to denounce the immigration arrest of #MahmoudKhalil, a #ProPalestinian activist who helped lead protests against #Israel at Columbia University.

"The demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace wore red shirts reading 'Jews say stop arming Israel' and held up banners as they chanted 'Bring Mahmoud home now!' on the lower level of the Fifth Avenue building's public atrium.

"After warning the protesters to leave, police said they arrested 98 people who stayed on various charges, including trespassing, obstruction and resisting arrest.

"Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent U.S. resident who is married to an American citizen and who hasn't been charged with breaking any laws, was arrested outside his New York City apartment Saturday and faces deportation. He's being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana."

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/13/campus-protests-immigration-arrest/82367512007/
#JewishVoiceForPeace #FreeMahmoud #FreeMahmoudKhalil #FreePalestine #ResistFascism #ResistRacism #BringMahmoudHomeNow

There's this idea going around that Jews are silencing pro-Palestinian messages at work.

When you're at work work, especially at a public service job, such as working at a library, a hospital, working for the police, etc. you need to be seen as a resource for everyone. It's inappropriate to wear political messages at work in those jobs because you need to service the public, and if someone *anyone* is intimidated to use the services, or feels unsafe because of your political messages, then you threaten not just the person in front of you, but the entire institution.

Because of that, you can't wear political messages at work.

It's not "The Jews are silencing me". That hate speech needs to stop.

#ProPalestinian
#FreePalestine

«Ben&Jerry’s has filed a lawsuit accusing its parent company, London-based Unilever, of trying to prevent the iconic Vermont ice cream maker from issuing #proPalestinian public statements, including calling for a ceasefire in #Gaza.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in US District Court…alleged that Unilever’s actions breached a 2022 settlement agreement between the parties.»

#antiPalestinian #antiZionist
https://vtdigger.org/2024/11/14/ben-jerrys-files-lawsuit-alleging-parent-company-tried-to-block-statements-on-gaza/

I remember people telling me that I need to make a new label for myself because I'm a Zionist but I'm one of the "good Zionists" (my words not theirs) who isn't for hurting Palestinian people, so I need to signal that to the outside world to let people know there are "Good Zionists" and to separate us from "Bad Zionists".

When a group of "Pro-Palestinian" activists attacks a congregation leaving synagogue, or attacks a falafel restaurant, or protests outside a Jewish hospital, or a theater playing Fiddler on the Roof, do we say that the Palestinian activists who are peaceful, and only demand equal rights and national self-determination for the people in the WB and Gaza should change their names, no longer be called "Pro-Palestinian"?

No, that would be ridiculous and insulting. And the same applies to me.

VRT: Judge rejects Ghent University’s request to evict protesters from UFO Building

“A court in the East Flemish city of #Ghent has ruled that the #proPalestinian #protesters that have been staging a sit-in at #GhentUniversity’s (UGent) UFO Building for over a month should not be evicted for the time being. … The judge did not follow the university’s reasoning and said that the activists had a #right to #demonstrate peacefully.”

Irish News: Trinity announces steps after talks with pro-Palestinian encampment protesters

#Dublin’s #Trinity #College has announced a series of measures in response to concerns raised by #students taking part in a #proPalestinian encampment #protest on its grounds.

This is the way it should be done. You examine the protests claims, you check the facts. Then, and only then, do you decide if you need to do something.

In this case, Trinity makes some changes.

@cbcworld

If M Ford truly felt wearing the #keffiyeh in the #ONLeg was an important example of #respect or #freespeech, he could control his party members.

That he chooses not to strongly suggests he is lying, and in fact is ensuring the continuing #keffiyehsban in the #ON #legislature.

REMEMBER: #MPP for Hamilton-Centre Sarah Jama is not allowed to speak or be recognized, because she made a #ProPalestinian statement on 10 Oct.

The #ProPalestinian movement is a corrupt, hate-based effort masquerading as a legitimate #protest movement. Under the guise of rallying for the safety of #Palestinians in #Israel, it's really just vehicle for virulent #antisemitism, and advocacy for the extermination of #Jews. These aren't good people fighting for their freedom and well-being. They're bigoted antisemites who just want an excuse to engage in overt hatred.

#IsrealPalestineWar #antisemitesSuck

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-794435

Let's make this clear... Making lists of Jews and where they live isn't "Pro-Palestinian".

Furthermore, calling this and similar actions "silencing Pro-Palestinian voices" conflates the Palestinian cause with hate, which not only harms Jews, but also legitimate Pro-Palestinian voices.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-02-13/australia-to-ban-doxxing-after-pro-palestinian-activists-publish-information-about-hundreds-of-jews

We, #Jewish #students, must not be #silent on the #genocide in #Gaza

The #suppression of #proPalestinian #voices is not fighting #antiSemitism because there is nothing #antiSemitic about #opposing #genocide.

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #MiddleEast #Israel #Gaza #Palestine #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Genocide #Discrimination

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/2/4/we-jewish-students-must-not-be-silent-on-the-genocide-in-gaza

. @nancypelosi Blasted for Bizarre Smear About #ProPalestinian #Activists --
#Pelosi wants the #FBI to investigate pro-#Palestinian #protesters.

https://newrepublic.com/post/178514/nancy-pelosi-smear-fbi-investigate-pro-palestine-protesters