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This is what the tech infrastructure powering deportations is like and what this digital crackdown means for everyone. https://theintercept.com/2025/05/30/trump-surveillance-students-protesters/
How Student Protesters and Immigrants Became Targets of Trump’s Surveillance Tech

Anthropologist Sophia Goodfriend and Reporter Chris Gelardi discuss how Trump uses surveillance tech to target students and immigrants.

The Intercept

He who refuses to submit is at once labelled "queer," "different," and decried as a disturbing element in the comfortable stagnancy of modern life.
-- Emma Goldman

#anarchism #quote #bot

“NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks” is an insane thing for a university to say. Just shut down the university if you can only allow speech that is condoned by the government.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/15/nyu-withholds-diploma-israel-gaza-speech

NYU withholds diploma of student who condemned Israel in graduation speech

University says it ‘strongly denounces’ commencement speech by Logan Rozos, who called out ‘atrocities’ in Gaza

The Guardian

3 ways #Trump's #immigration #crackdown could hit #USCitizens

Brittany Gibson, Apr 23, 2025

"#Trump administration officials are suggesting their immigration crackdown could expand to include deporting convicted U.S. citizens and charging anyone — not just immigrants — who criticizes Trump's policies.

"Why it matters: Such moves — described by officials in recent days — would show how U.S. citizens could be impacted by the growing number of tactics President Trump is using to, in his view, improve national security.

"They'd also be certain to ignite new legal battles over how far Trump's team can go in fighting illegal immigration and responding to #dissenters.

"Zoom in: Here are three tactics the administration has teased that legal analysts say would challenge Americans' rights:

1. Sending convicted U.S. citizens to prisons abroad.

This has been floated as a spinoff of Trump's deal with El Salvador, where a high-security prison is holding about 300 U.S. immigration detainees that the administration says are suspected criminals and gang members.
"Homegrowns are next," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele last week, referring to sending Americans convicted of crimes to serve time in foreign prisons.
"We always have to obey the laws," Trump said, "but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies over the head ... I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country."
Trump's suggestion — echoing a similar proposal Bukele made to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February — drew a storm of criticism from legal advocates, who called it unconstitutional.

2. Putting critics of the administration's policies in jeopardy.

Some officials say U.S. citizens who #criticize administration policies could be charged with crimes, based on the notion that they're aiding terrorists and criminals.
"You have to ask yourself, are they technically aiding and abetting them, because aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists is a crime," White House senior director for counterterrorism Seb Gorka said in an interview with Newsmax.
Trump's team also has questioned the legality of civic groups providing #immigrants with "#KnowYourRights" trainings on how to respond to federal agents. Border czar Tom Homan suggested that such seminars help people evade law enforcement.
"They're trying to use terrorism laws to attack people for their speech and for their political activism, and that's an authoritarian effort," said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an immigration advocacy group.

3. Questioning the authority of court orders.

The administration's resistance to returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who was legally in the U.S. with an order not to be deported back to El Salvador, but deported to the prison there anyway — has raised questions about how far Trump's team can go in trying to skirt court orders.
The White House says the decision to return #AbregoGarcia rests with El Salvador because the U.S. Supreme Court told the administration only to "facilitate" his return, not "effectuate" it.

Advocates worry the resulting confusion has laid the groundwork for Trump's team to send a #USCitizen to a foreign prison, then claim that person couldn't be returned.

A federal judge raised this concern in Abrego Garcia's case.
"If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?" wrote Judge Harvie Wilkinson III.
"And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies?"

What they're saying: Michelle Brané, former executive director of the Biden administration's Family Reunification Task Force, echoed Wilkinson.

"If they can send a noncitizen to a prison in El Salvador without due process ... why would a U.S. citizen be safer?"

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment. But officials have argued that they have an electoral mandate for stricter immigration enforcement, and that opposition to their policies is against the will of voters.

Trump's handling of immigration polls well in public surveys.
But sending immigrants to El Salvador's prison without criminal convictions or due process does not — about 60% were opposed in a recent YouGov survey.

Between the lines: U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before, including cases this month in Arizona and Florida.

"People are realizing that this is going to impact all communities," Talbot said, "and that if one citizen can be picked up, then any of us can be picked up and put into proceedings, or labeled a #terrorist, or removed to a foreign prison."

Original article:
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/23/trump-immigration-crackdown-us-citizens

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/wUUdG

#SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #CriminalizingDissent #USPol #DontQuestionBigBrother #Fascism #Authoritarianism #MemoryHoled #Orwellian #ThoughtCrime #WaterDefenders #LandDefenders #Resisters #HumanRightsDefenders #IhrePapiereBitte #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Nazis #SecretPolice
#Disappeared #USCitizens #ICEDetention
#IllegalDeportations #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Deportations #Disappeared #MemoryHoled #NineteenEightyFour #DoublePlusUngood

3 ways Trump's immigration crackdown could hit U.S. citizens

Administration officials have teased three tactics that legal analysts say would challenge Americans' rights.

Axios

ICE violently kidnaps hardworking woman in Maryland, while they lie about a gang affiliation, without presenting a warrant.

ICE is the lawless gang i'm worried about, not MS13.

#ICE #news #USA

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/local-news/video-ice-arrest-wesminster-elsy-noemi-berrios-QJ7CIME76ZGPZEBW5C3REEPZ6E/?utm_content=bc_mr

Rejected at her door, ICE nabs a Maryland woman in her car after smashing her window

Video shows a U.S. ICE agents breaking the window of a Maryland woman, Elsy Noemi Berrios, after failing to detain her at home.

The Baltimore Banner

While you certainly don't "have to hand it to the nazis," I must admit that it's way easier to show people that the Trump regime's attempts to target anti-genocide protestors using "War on Terror" logic will lead to them targeting all protestors using that same logic, when they just blurt that part out loud:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/deportation-protest

DHS Official Explicitly Equates Protest to Terrorism in 'Stunning' Interview

"The Trump administration has accused Khalil, who is of Palestinian descent, of leading "activities aligned to Hamas" and protests where pro-Hamas propaganda was distributed, but officials have provided no evidence that he's provided support to Hamas or other groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.

A White House official this week told The Free Press that Khalil is not being accused of breaking any laws, but is rather "a threat to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States," and Edgar's comments to Martin offered further evidence evidence that DHS is working to deport Khalil without accusing him of a crime.

"He is coming in to basically be a student that is not going to be supporting terrorism," said Edgar. "So, the issue is he was let into the country on this visa. He has been promoting this antisemitism activity at the university. And at this point, the State Department has revoked his visa for supporting a terrorist type organization."

This story comes out of an interview with Troy Edgar (Trump's deputy homeland security secretary) by NPR's Michel Martin; thus it's important to note that while Edgar isn't making a legal argument here, he is absolutely working the court of public opinion to sway your perception about the legality of Trump's unlawful arrest, detainment, and ongoing attempts to deport a former Columbia University student green card holder, legally residing in the country with his wife (who is an American citizen), for protesting a genocide (by Israel) in Gaza, facilitated by both the current, and prior US administrations.

With that in mind, the first thing I'd like to point out is the bizarre, manipulative, and legally irrelevant language Edgar uses here. From a technical standpoint, the phrase "activities aligned with Hamas" is wholly unrelated to any law on the books in America, even our nightmare War on Terror era anti-terrorism laws, while simultaneously covering such a broad spectrum of activities that untold millions of Americans could potentially be "engaging in activities aligned with Hamas" - if for example, as in Khalil's case, you've advocated for ending Israel's genocide in Gaza, or the US government's arm shipments to Israel that make it possible, you've technically engaged in "activities aligned with Hamas," who also want the genocide and arms shipments to end. Does anyone, including Troy Edgar know what "a terrorist type organization" means? You won't find a single paragraph in US law that discusses prohibitions against supporting "a terrorist *type* organization" and this is really just a way for Edgar to say Khalil is working for "terrorists" without exposing himself to liability for false accusations; it's a poison phrase to turn public opinion against the accused, and in favor of the Trump administration's unlawful and quite frankly fascist actions. This is of course setting aside that Edgar, much like the rest of the Trump regime, continues to use the War on Terror legal language of "supporting a terrorist organization" (typically financially, materially, or logistically) to describe protesting a genocide; a stretch that also has no basis in American law that I'm aware of.

Additionally of course, there's the bombshell this article is mostly based around to consider; a US deputy homeland security secretary just went on public radio and argued that (legally nebulous) "pro-Palestine activity" and even just protesting in general, is terrorism. While many disingenuous bootlickers will try to parse Edgar's words here, he was given plenty of opportunities to answer questions about what "terrorist" activities the government was alleging Khalil engaged in, and Troy continually repeated the phrases "pro-Palestinian activity" and "protesting." Furthermore given that the entire Trump administration keeps making this "mistake" over and over again, it seems pretty reasonable to assume that at least from a propaganda perspective this is the regime's official position on supporting Palestinians and protesting in general.

Folks, can you think of any reason why an increasingly unpopular fascist administration presiding over the rapid impoverishment of the US labor class, and working with Israel to ethnically cleanse Gaza, would want to declare "pro-Palestinian activity" and "protesting" to be terrorist activity? Might it be because they expect a lot of Americans to start getting interested in Palestinians and protesting?

#Fascism #Trump #MahmoudKhalil #CivilRights #DHS #TroyEdgar #Gaza #Israel #Palestine #FreeSpeech

DHS Official Explicitly Equates Protest to Terrorism in 'Stunning' Interview | Common Dreams

DHS official Troy Edgar failed to provide evidence for the arrest of former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil. Is protesting now a deportable offense? Khalil's arrest sparks protests and demands for his release. #FreeMahmoud

Common Dreams
“It’s definitely scary watching what is happening at Columbia,” she said. “Columbia showed us, and I hope that it showed our administrators, too … that no level of acquiescence or obedience to a frankly fascist administration is going to do you any good because Columbia took arguably the strictest, most violent approach to cracking down on protests.”
https://lite.cnn.com/2025/03/16/us/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-protests-free-speech/index.html
‘Rules aren’t clear anymore’: Trump crackdown on student protesters sends shock waves across US universities

Last weekend’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian refugee whose green card was revoked over his involvement in demonstrations at Columbia University, is having a chilling effect on college campuses across America, where students say they’re being forced to think carefully before exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech.

CNN

"Roman satirist Lucian: “[a] cynical ideologue who denounces the critics of power to the powerful and cultivated as ambitious lunatics. His critical activities have turned into opportunism trimmed to the irony of those in power, who want to make fun of their existential critics.” Sounds all too familiar."

"In a more attenuated and Americanized form, that is also what Trumpism says, “you live in a brutal, competitive society, you are a striving atom of self-regard, drop the humanitarian pretenses, live without hypocrisy, express some well-deserved sadism, and enjoy it.” But, of course, this demand for absolute self-assertion is also a demand for absolute conformity, for doing what everyone else does. Back to our friends in the commentariat, perhaps the most typical character of the age is “the non-conformist conformist:” someone who says what everyone else says while flattering themselves that they are telling a bold truth that no else one has the courage to say. Well, it’s easy to be courageous in a crowd."

https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/cynicism-and-authenticity

Cynicism and Authenticity

Some Thoughts about "Culture"

Unpopular Front