Category: Law

Birthright Citizenship and the Supreme Court

Posted on by documentingdescent

In keeping with their usual standard of dickery, the Supreme Court made a very bizzaro 6-3 ruling today regarding Trump’s EO over birthright citizenship.

They didn’t rule on if it was constitutional or not, but they ruled lower courts can’t stop EOs from being enforced. They specifically stated that universal injunctions pending court decisions exceed the authority granted them in the constitution. So universal injunctions are out. What this means is that in 28 states, people now born in them to non-citizens do not get birthright citizenship, but identical circumstances in the other states mean they are citizens.

This is gonna cause some seriously tangled shit in courts. It’s a cowardly move made by fascist, coward supreme court justices. Ones who do not give a single shit about the kind of mess they’re causing.

Make no mistake: that EO is a lawless order. The Supreme Court didn’t even have the balls to go full fascist, probably because Roberts wants to protect “his legacy”. So instead they just ruled nobody but them can block lawless orders like this. So effectively, it’s legal, because nobody’s allowed to stop it.

I don’t have any linked articles on this, but Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for NYC’s mayoral election, and the right wingers and oligarchs are absolutely losing their shit over him. Demanding Trump de-naturalize him for lying on his permanent residency form, because obviously he wants to topple the United States, rather than just, y’know, improve New York.

This is especially funny because it implies he was some kind of radical when he filled out his permanent residency forms. You know. When he was seven fucking years old.

Mid June Roundup

Posted on by documentingdescent

At long last, my tremendous overtime has ended. For reference, I was working 70-75 hour weeks for a while there. Not the most fun. In the meantime, a lot of other not the most fun things have been happening, as well. So I’ll try and do a roundup of everything I recall over the past while.

First off, Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been returned to the United States! After hemming and hawing and saying it couldn’t be done, and it was beyond the powers of the President, and Bukele snickering up his sleeve that we were all whiners… he’s been returned to the United States.

Of course, now the DoJ is prosecuting him for human trafficking, because we can’t have a guy embarrass us without trying to ruin his life a second time. I don’t believe these charges for a second, because of who’s issued them and the timing surrounding them… But even if he is guilty, the man was and is entitled to due process.

Plenty of other political targets remain in limbo, like Mahmoud Khalil. And DHS continues to play stupid three card monte with the people it’s nabbing in these cases, shuffling them off to other states and claiming “Oh, your injunction is invalid because you filed it 30 minutes after they left the state and no we’re not telling you where we took them”, ad nauseam. Same shit they pulled with Rümeysa Öztürk.

Edit: My comment on Mahmoud Khalil is now incorrect. As of 30 minutes ago – about 6 hours after I initially posted this – they freed Khalil.

When asked if he would obey an order to deploy the army and fire on protestors, Pete Hegseth laughed at the Senator asking him the question. Piece of shit. He also said he wouldn’t obey any court order that didn’t come from the Supreme Court. Presumably this is because he knows the federal government will appeal any injunction against him, but even so… sorry, guy, it doesn’t work that way. Sure, he may factually be able to get away with it, but hopefully people will remember it when it comes time to nail his scrotum to a board, if we ever get to that point.

The big big news of late, at least for me: protests in Los Angeles. And yes, hundreds of other cities, thousands if you count towns. The No Kings day protests.

The lead up to the Saturday was spicy – lots of gatherings at Pershing Square, and lots of cops. Including riot suppression squads literally outside my front door, since I live downtown. In typical LAPD fashion, overreaction to show the plebians who’s boss. But the day itself?

I’ve been to a lot of protests over the years, and this was easily one of the most peaceful I’ve ever seen. No shouting of angry statements, no bullhorns, no demands. Just a peaceful set of marches. Hell, we even had groups of people playing music while marching – like a couple of trumpets, two saxaphones, some drums, etc. It was a very party atmosphere. Same all over Los Angeles – Santa Monica, Long Beach, Culver City, Hollywood. Everything went well. There were Mexican dancers on City Hall’s steps, stuff like that.

Up until the LAPD and LASD decided to play cowboy and break up two groups of protestors because they just couldn’t leave well enough alone. It turned into an absolute shitshow that escalated very rapidly. Why it escalated is indicative of the quality policing we have come to expect here in the City of Angels. Reporter Chad Loder – and confirmed by me independently via police scanner recordings – the LAPD were going to start breaking up the protest. So they fired tear gas. Well, the LASD hadn’t masked up against gas, so they opened fire on the LAPD with less-lethal rounds. Who then predictably fired back. And then everything turned against the civilians.

I can verify this escalating quickly from absolutely zero violence on the part of protestors, because I drove through it right when shit kicked off. No shit. I was on my way back from El Super in Boyle Heights, but had to take surface streets because the cops still hadn’t opened up the freeway on and off ramps, and ran smack dab into the middle of shit right as it went sideways, on Temple Street.

Kind of a pucker moment. All I wanted to do was get home with my groceries.

Other than that, though, and the overreaction by LAPD earlier in the week, there were no riots. Nothing burning down. Anyone who tells you Los Angeles had to have the Nation Guard brought in or it’d have burned down is lying to you. Full stop. Lying. The only people escalating shit to the level of a riot were the LAPD, and they only did it twice, in very limited circumstances.

We still have ICE or ICE bounty hunters (verdict is out on which we’re dealing with at any given time) masked up and refusing to identify, snatching people off the streets. Including citizens. Including arresting city officials in New York for assaulting them. Of course, he was released later that day because video clearly shows him NOT assaulting them, and audio includes them colluding to arrest him just because. So shit isn’t all good out there. It’s still totally fucked. But at least the people of Los Angeles can get together to say “Hell no!” without turning it into a shitshow by themselves.

And, as far as I can tell, the National Guard and Marines that Trump’s deployed to the city are essentially sitting on their asses with no real orders other than to defend federal buildings.

And now they’re talking about maybe dropping a nuke on Iran.

Fucking wonderful.

You Say You Want a Constitution, Well, You Know…

Posted on by documentingdescent

All apologies to the Beatles.

It’s been two weeks since “liberation day”. I can’t talk about the tariffs, the stock market, the strength of the dollar as a reserve currency, or anything like that. Anything I say will become obsolete a day later. Sometimes even later in the same day. There is no predictability to be had, if you’re trying to ascertain the state of the United States economy. Or how anything is being decided. It’s incompetence and vibes, all the way down.

So instead, let’s take a look at the state of our constitutional crisis. It’s here!

On the subject of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, Judge Paula Xinis told the DOJ on no uncertain terms they had to facilitate his return to the United States, and out of CECOT in El Salvador. The DOJ kicked it up to the Supreme Court, who decided 9-0 that the Trump Administration did have to do so. The DOJ’s response this week has been: “No, we don’t care what you say.” Their argument is that the SCOTUS decision is unconstitutional because nobody can compel the White House to engage or not engage in any kind of diplomacy. This comes after all kinds of spurious bullshit like, “We can’t possibly put any pressure on any country, especially a Latin American one, because of our long and rich history in not intervening in the affairs of other nations.”

Sure, buddy.

The DOJ’s incompetence has been on display front and center as well – while this rebuttal was due last week, they’ve had some problems. Filings made by people not part of the case, incorrect filing procedures, the presumption that SCOTUS would side with them delaying their reply, etc. Abrego-Garcia’s own lawyer suggests that maybe some people need to be held in contempt and arrested for them to start listening. I am inclined to agree – until there’s some kind of consequence for flipping the courts the bird, there’s no reason to assume they’ll change their ways. In fact, one of the court filings from yesterday indicated as much: it advised judges not to assume good faith in DOJ court filings, including an admonition not to believe them without external proof. I cannot stress how insane it is to tell the courts: “Hey, the Department of Justice is probably just always gonna be full of shit for the foreseeable future.”

So where does this leave Abrego-Garcia? Well, courts can deputize their own marshals to enforce the law, if the DOJ refuses to adhere to commands. Obviously, this hasn’t happened a whole lot in the history of the United States, but it’s something they can do. I’m not sure if they will, however.

Senator Chris Van Hollen has announced he’s going to go to El Salvador to try and secure Abrego-Garcia’s release, and he’ll be joined by several other lawmakers. I suppose it’s something, but I’d like to see some DOJ, ICE, and DHS people thrown in jail for being a bunch of smug assholes ignoring the courts.

I don’t think it’ll have much of an effect, since President Trump met with President Bukele yesterday and flat out both said Abrego-Garcia isn’t coming home. What’s more, Trump told Bukele to build five more CECOT type installations so that the United States can start shipping out “homegrown” folks.

You know, citizens.

Get Ready for Citizen Deportations

Posted on by documentingdescent

What did I tell you? Didn’t I say the Trump admin wouldn’t stop at visa holders or green card holders? That they’d come for citizens of the United States of America? I did, in fact, say just that, talking about Mahmoud Khalil.

Trump talked wanting to deport citizens just today. He said he’d love to send citizens to El Salvador if it was legal, and Bukele would love to accept them. He even said the following:

“I don’t know what the law says on that, but I can’t imagine the law would say anything different. If they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us, I’m all for it, but I would only do according to the law.”

Note this phrasing: he’s already priming his goons to believe that the law would be okay with this, by saying he ‘can’t imagine’ the law saying anything different. Of course he would only follow the law, but we’ve all seen exactly how much he respects the law – not just as a president, but as a human being.

Sure, buddy.

Karoline Leavitt also decided to chime in on how totally normal it would be to deport citizens to El Salvador, and that it would only be used on “the worst people”. Sure, lady. I absolutely believe this line of bullshit as much as every other line of bullshit you’ve spouted in your position. May you be hounded for the rest of your days by wrathful people with hate in their heart. I don’t generally like embedding social media into posts, but WordPress doesn’t seem to like embedded MP4s.

Karoline Leavitt confirms the Trump Administration wants to deport AMERICAN CITIZENS to El Salvador.

[image or embed]

— David Leavitt 🔜 #PaxEast (@davidleavitt.bsky.social) April 8, 2025 at 11:56 AM

Let’s be clear here on two issues.

One, it is not deportation when someone is moved to a country they are not a citizen of. It is kidnapping or rendition. Deportation explicitly means moving people to their country of origin or a country they have citizenship in, if they have multiple citizenships.

Two, United States law expressly forbids removing citizens of the USA to other countries. Citizens cannot be denied entry into the United States or removed from it against their will. Naturally, Trump does not give two shits about this, but it bears mentioning.

I guess we’ll see how far down the madness hole people are willing to let this admin go.

Liberation Day

Posted on by documentingdescent

So today is Liberation Day, as Trump calls it. The Terrible Day of the Tariff. No PDF links to articles about this because it’s happening in real time and most publications are either just announcing the tariffs or they’re doing minute by minute updates I won’t keep up with because when do I stop and post this? I’ll have to add some stuff later if it’s pertinent.

Trump’s tariffed the fuck out of pretty much everybody in the most idiotic way possible: he’s looked at the percentage trade deficit with any given nation, halved that percentage, and announced that’s a new tariff. For countries like Canada, China, Mexico, this is on top of other tariffs already levied.

This is not an intelligent way to add tariffs. Not that they’re too smart to begin with. For instance, he tariffed the Indian Ocean and Associated Territories (or whatever it’s called). The only thing there that’s inhabited and has contact with the outside world (the Andaman Island natives, for instance, do not have contact) is Diego Garcia Island. Home to a joint US/UK military base.

We tariffed our own fucking military base, because Trump and his cabinet are fundamentally unserious people.

It is hard to overstate how much this is gonna fuck the average consumer in the USA. Certain businesses – board games, for instance – may be rendered entirely unable to make a profit for the forseeable future, for instance; one designer estimated their board game would have to sell for $225 to make the same profit as before, due to being printed in China.

The Senate Democrats managed to convince four republicans – Collins, Murkowski, Paul, and McConnell – to break with their party and vote to repeal Trump’s emergency powers to levy tariffs. It’ll still need to be voted on in the House, so good luck there. Democrats are going to try to force a vote, but if they can’t, we likely won’t see an end to this bullshit before 2026.

Why? Well, on March 17 or 18, the House Republicans decided to have a vote to say a “calendar day” is not a real day that passes for purposes of expiring Trump’s “national emergencies” that grant him tariff power. They did this explicitly, by their own admission, to prevent such a vote.

Good job, jackasses.

In better news, Musk failed to get Schimel elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, despite his $20 million in donations to sway voting. Good job, Wisconsin!

ICE Does Not Care About the Law

Posted on by documentingdescent

ICE has deported a father who is legally protected from deportation by court order to El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison. Apparently ICE does not give a shit about court orders.

File under the “No Shit” heading, obviously. I warned about this when they came for Mahmoud Khalil, and we saw it with the total lack of due process for people getting carted off to El Salvador without any semblance of due process. ICE’s attitude has been “trust me, bro” when it comes to their vetting of who gets sent to CECOT.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a refugee from El Salvador, owing to the fact that he and his family were under threat by Salvadorean gangs. He came to the United States in 2011 due to threats of murder, kidnapping and torture against him and his family. This was part of an extortion attempt by the gangs in question. After his asylum hearings, he was granted a status of “withholding of removal”, preventing deportation.

He was also accused in of being a member of MS-13 in 2019. He was picked up in a Home Depot parking lot while looking for work, and was identified as an MS-13 member by virtue of having tattoos and an accusation by an unnamed source; he was found by the judge to not be a member of MS-13, and his withholding of removal status maintained. This finding was due to the accusation having no proof, with even the police saying they did not believe the accuser and did not believe Abrego-Garcia was a gang member.

JD Vance has claimed Abrego Garcia is a “convicted gang member.” No. There was no conviction, only an accusation. JD Vance is a fucking liar. To state it a second time, Abrego Garcia’s withholding of removal was maintained, and no conviction occurred.

Yet nonetheless, Abrego Garcia was deported to CECOT. ICE personnel stopped his car after picking up his son on March 12, saying his status had changed.

The White House and ICE know they fucked this up. They have stated so. This was all a “administrative error”. Hell of a administrative error to deport a pan to a megaprison for an indeterminate sentence. “Although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error,” the government told the court.

It is the contention of the Trump administration that they are powerless to return Abrego Garcia to the United States. They definition have no interest in pursuing his return, based on their inaction and diffidence to his situation. They have offered two excuses for their inaction.

One reason is that they say they have no authority over El Salvadorian imprisonments. While technically true, when has that ever stopped the United States from demanding prisoner releases in the past?

The second reason is that Trump’s “primacy in foreign affairs” outweighs the interests of Abrego Garcia and his family. Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, had some choice words about that.

If that’s true, the immigration laws are meaningless – all of them – because the government can deport whoever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, and no court can do anything about it once it’s done.”

The will eventually come for your neighbors, your friends, even you, if we allow this kind of thing to continue.

No Brakes on the Musk Train

Posted on by documentingdescent

Musk gave away two checks for 1 million dollars each last night, as Wisconsin’s supreme court declined to take up AG Kaul’s lawsuit. They gave no reasoning behind their decision, but promised to give it at a later date. I have heard it argued that the lawsuit was not the correct path, because it’s a criminal affair, but I have no confirmation on that.

I mean, Kaul probably should have criminally charged Musk. As Nick Cave put it in “Until the End of the World”, however, we’re in the age full of “men with big mouths and no guts.”

I’ve also heard it reported that in his 100 minute speech, he called for the elimination of the Federal Reserve, and creating a federal crypto banking system to run parallel to the US Dollar.

Frankly, I can’t find any independent reporting on that, and I’m not listening to him for five minutes, much less 100. So those can remain rumor for now.

ICE Revokes Immigration Status for Students; Newsom is a Dirtbag

Posted on by documentingdescent

This morning, it was discovered that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has been revoking visas for students across the country manually, rather than leaving that decision to universities, as is the norm. While Zeteo suggests the students and universities were not notified, this does not seem to be the case. In an article I haven’t linked, several hundred received notification to self-deport this morning. It is unclear if more visas were revoked than the 300 Zeteo reports, but those 300 seem to have been notified.

These visa revocations are tied to the visa provision preventing “interference in foreign policy”. In the cases Zeteo and other outlets reviewed, this interference was little more than social media activity. In some cases, merely sharing a post critical of US policy was sufficient for revocation.

California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the ‘toxicity’ of the Democratic Party on Friday, in an interview with Bill Maher. He said the party was ‘too judgmental’ and that it ‘needs to mature’. Rich words coming from a guy who’s busily doing a total 180 on positions held for years, probably in an effort to swing right in prep for a run for President. For instance, after hosting noted white supremacist and shitbag Charlie Kirk on his podcast, he performed an encore lap by inviting Steve Bannon on.

Newsom’s descent into dirtbag is well underway; it’s hard to exaggerate just how much he’s alienating his base in California in his efforts to court the entirely mythical swing Republican vote. Any Californian can tell you, the Republicans in this state hate his ass passionately – a drive up or down I-5 will plaster your eyes with anti-Newsom signage. Even Democrats in California have basically only been tolerating him, since he’s largely ineffectual. He exemplifies the bog-standard Big Donor Democrat stereotype, with no real policy positions at any given moment other than what’s politically expedient. He’s also totally in bed with PG&E, and has utterly failed to reform them after the massive fires their collapsing infrastructure has caused.

Democrats want a fighter and someone who will stand up to fascists, not someone who will invite them on to their podcast, agree with them, and be the most milquetoast politician while doing so.

In Wisconsin, Appellate court judge Andrew Voigt denied AG Josh Kaul’s lawsuit which is attempting to stop Elon Musk’s 1 million dollar voting giveaway; Kaul has already appealed the ruling. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find Voigt’s rationale for his refusal.

In international news, Ecuador is preparing for the arrival of United States military aid in Manta by building a new military base there. This is of particular interest to me, as I have a lot of friends in Latin America, and I work with a lot of people whose families are from Latin America. Ecuador is in a somewhat precarious position both geographically and politically. Geographically, coastal cities like Guayaquil are perfect for international narco trade, and former president Rafael Correa’s closure of the previous base in Manta encouraged the narcos to move into the country from Peru and Colombia. This was further exacerbated by FARC ending operations in Colombia, which was kind of policing the southern border with Ecuador. My friends in Colombia (Medellin and Barranquilla) have said the government is still making life difficult for the Colombian narcos, so moving their goods through Ecuador is easier.

Currently President Daniel Noboa is facing off in a special election with candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who’s the protégé of former president Correa. I suspect this base is a play to swing votes toward himself and away from Gonzalez, as the country is still dealing with some serious gang violence.

Roundup: March Madness

Posted on by documentingdescent

I’ve been a bit busy to keep up day by day, dealing with a rather impressive volume of bureaucratic paperwork. As such, I didn’t have much time to deal with any of this moment to moment over the last week. So you get a round-up of what’s been happening instead!

First off, Trump signed the Executive Order known as “Preserving and Protecting American Elections“. This EO essentially attempts to usurp the role of individual states in how elections are administered and run, moving everything under review of the federal government – namely the Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of State, and DOGE.

Obviously, there is no reason for DOGE to be involved in elections for any legitimate reason. What’s more, the Executive Branch cannot set election law under any circumstances, and this is a transparent power grab by the president. Lest we forget, Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution:

“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators.”

This EO relies on two things to enforce its’ bullshit: the willing compliance of States, and the threat of federal funding being withheld. We’ll see how callow individual states are soon, I suppose.

Trump also told automakers in the United States not to increase prices due to his tariffs. I don’t know how he expects that to go; no corporation is gonna eat a massive loss on every item sold just because they want to appease his ego – at least not for long. If they can’t make money selling cars, it won’t matter if he’s mad at them or not. Obviously, this signals he knows his tariffs are shit that will hurt consumers in the United States, but we already knew he didn’t give a shit about them.

Still, seeing it in the open is good, just so there’s some kind of public acknowledgement of this rank insanity.

There was also a Trump EO that basically orders the Smithsonian and other federal museums/monuments to enforce white supremacist history, re-erect confederate monuments, strip anything uncomfortable (i.e. accurate) from their displays, and re-write the history of the USA to be pro white people. Among the more offensive things in the EO is the demand that race be identified as a quantifiable, genetic reality, rather than something socially constructed and understood. Note: this isn’t ‘some people have dark skin’ type of race, but the notion that there are identifiable, distinct ‘races’ of human beings.

The EO also risks shutting down any museum dedicated to non-white history, under the guise of ‘protecting’ us from “racially divisive exhibits.”

JD Vance addressed Greenland while there with his wife, saying both that Greenland hadn’t been treated very well by Denmark and that only the United States will respect their rights. Funny way to show it, by simultaneously threatening them by (essentially) saying “The United States will get Greenland no matter what.” That’ll be a shitshow of epic proportions if it happens. I’m not wasting any more time on JD Vance, though.

ICE is disappearing students around the United States for political speech. We’re up to 8 at least now, and in each case these students were targeted for things like writing Op-Eds in their student newspaper, engaging in protest or other protected speech, or generally saying stuff the Trump administration doesn’t agree with. They’re being taken while on the streets by ICE agents who are usually out of uniform, masked, and who only identify themselves as ‘police’ – which, I should note, is fucking terrifying.

ICE is trying to deny all of these students their day in court before an immigration judge, and Rubio is trying to deport them without due process, all because they said some uncomfortable truths about the United States and Israel.

Elon Musk is in hot water with Wisconsin after deciding to hand out several million dollars to select voters, in return for them voting. While federal law prohibits payment in exchange for voting for a particular candidate, Musk isn’t doing that. It’s Wisconsin state law he’s run afoul of.

In Wisconsin, paying for voter turnout is explicitly against state law, and it seems Wisconsin isn’t having any of his shit. He deleted his tweet advertising this, but many people captured it before it vanished. I doubt anything will happen legally, but I sure hope Wisconsin tries. We don’t need any centibillionaires messing around with out already broken political system.

I suppose we shall see what horrors next week brings. Stay safe out there.

If it Can Happen to Mahmoud Khalil, it Can Happen to You

Posted on by documentingdescent

On March 8, 2025, Mahmoud Khalil was taken by ICE agents from his apartment and spirited away to an unknown location. Khalil had been, until December of 2024, a graduate student at Columbia University, and had acted as a liaison between the pro-Palestine demonstrators and university staff. Notably, Khalil was not at Columbia University on a student visa, but is in fact a lawful permanent resident of the United States. That is to say, a Green Card holder.

ICE agents told his 8 months pregnant wife (who is a citizen of the USA) that he had been taken to a holding facility in New Jersey, but this was a lie. Today it was revealed he had been taken to a holding facility in Louisiana. For two days, neither his wife nor lawyer had any means to contact him, and only through extensive searching could they turn up his whereabouts. Any transfer must be reported to the subject’s family and lawyer within 24 hours, but ICE has never exactly played better than ‘fast and loose’ with their legal responsibilities.

All of this comes due to Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming the State Department has the right to revoke Khalil’s residency and deport him. Thing is, though, legally they do not. The Department of Homeland Security does, but they have to meet certain criteria:

  • Fraud or misrepresentation during the application process.
  • The comission of certain crimes.
  • Failure to maintain permanent residence.
  • Failure to notify USCIS of a change of address.
  • Security violations such as membership in a designated terrorist organization or espionage/treason.
  • Engaging in immigration fraud after getting a green card
  • Violation of terms if the green card is conditional (his is not).
  • Becoming inadmissible due to health reasons.

All of these must be proven in a court of law before an immigration judge. In no case can anyone be deported and their residency revoked without due process. Due process has not been followed in any way, here, and Rubio has grossly gone beyond his authority.

“But author,” some say, “this administration doesn’t follow the law! They’ll just ignore it!”

While this administration is lawless as fuck, it’s true, it’s important to make them work for it. Do not simply give in. What’s more Khalil is the canary in the coal mine here: if they are willing to ignore the due process of law, there is nothing preventing them from disappearing citizens as well.

No? Why not. Your citizenship is only as good as the willingness of people to respect your rights, and Khalil has rights just like you do. So it’s very important to ensure a light gets shined on this shit, and we do not simply roll over. If we do, you or your neighbors or both may suddenly be gone one day, with no warning. Khalil is important not just morally, but because our rights evaporate the moment we stop fighting for them. He’s important because the current administration is probably betting nobody wanted to stick their neck out for a pro-Palestine demonstrator. They have painted him as an agent of Hamas – for which there is no evidence, and such association must be proven in a court of law regardless.

The deliberate conflation of pro-Palestine activity, or anti-Israeli genocide activity, with pro-Hamas sentiment, is a pernicious tactic by those in power as a way to silence dissent and rally the racists of the United States to their side. It’s also cynical, and possibly fuelled by ulterior motives when it comes to the university.

Columbia University is culpable, and may have sent ICE to his apartment, as well. Just before his detention, he contacted the university administration asking for assistance, due to fear of threats he’d received. They may have been trying to curry favor with the Trump admin due to their $400 million in grants that were cancelled.

Appeasing bullies like Trump and his crew never works. All it shows is that you’re weak and can be pushed around, and will cave when the chips are down.

Proof that action and noise get results: Khalil is now represented by the ACLU and several other organizations, and an immigration judge has ruled he cannot be deported before he’s had his day in court.

We have to make them work for it and not just give in.