Constitution

If Permanent Resident Mahmoud Khalil can be Deported for Political Speech, the 1st Amendment is at Risk for All

By Erin Corcoran, University of Notre Dame The Trump administration has revoked the visas of more than 1,000 foreign university students since January 2025. Many of the individual cases that have made headlines center on foreign-born university students who participated in Palestinian rights protests. In early March, the federal government arrested, detained and began deportation […]

Bill of Rights

Deporting Dissent: The dangerous Precedent set by the Persecution of pro-Palestine Activists

Middle East Monitor

( Middle East Monitor ) – “Rights are granted to those who align with power,” Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student, eloquently wrote from his cell. This poignant statement came soon after a judge ruled that the government had met the legal threshold to deport the young activist on the nebulous ground of “foreign […]

Bill of Rights

‘Immoral, Inhumane, and Illegal’: ICE Arrests Palestinian Columbia Protest Leader at urging of Far Right Zionist Betar Org.

Common Dreams

“He came to this country hoping to be free to speak out about the atrocities he has witnessed, only to be punished for such speech,” said Mohsen Mahdawi’s lawyer. ( Common Dreams ) – A month after the international far-right pro-Israel group Betar named Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi as the next target in its […]

Bill of Rights

Condemnation of Trump targeting noncitizen Students, Researchers for Constitutionally protected Speech

Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association MESA Board Joint Statement with the TFCHR regarding deportations The MESA Board of Directors and the MESA Task Force on Civil and Human Rights condemn in the strongest terms the Trump administration’s targeting of noncitizen students and researchers for their constitutionally protected speech and advocacy. As part of an expansive […]

Bill of Rights

We are All Mahmoud Khalil

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The arrest of legal permanent U.S. resident Mahmoud Khalil, 29, by Department of Homeland Security agents for thought crimes is a shot across the bow of the American Constitution. All Fascist governments despise free speech, and the Trumpist regime is no exception. Khalil is only a test case. The Trumpists […]

Bill of Rights

For Trumpism “Free Speech” means Neo-Nazi Speech

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Convicted felon Donald Trump is eviscerating the US Constitution in a particularly insidious way. Previously, I have written about Trump’s efforts to hijack the Free Speech Movement, and invert it, thrusting us all down the Republican rabbit hole. This perversion of free speech takes a most precious, […]

Bill of Rights

Are we All Hungarians now, or Palestinians? Trump’s Onslaught on the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Most of (convicted felon) Donald Trump’s Executive Orders are brazenly unconstitutional, and stand to be reversed in Court rulings by thoughtful, law-abiding judges. But the red elephants in the room are the sycophantic, compliant judges he appointed during his last term such as Aileen Cannon of Florida. […]

Bill of Rights

A Democracy of Voices, If we can Keep It: Threats to Free Expression in the Trump Era

Tomdispatch

By Nan Levinson ( Tomdispatch.com ) – I thought I was done with free speech. For nearly two decades, I reported on it for the international magazine Index on Censorship. I wrote a book, Outspoken: Free Speech Stories, about controversies over it. I even sang “I Like to Be in America” at the top of my lungs […]

Constitution

“A Bad” effing “guy!” – Biden cursed out Netanyahu but then let him do as he pleased – Hamlet on the Potomac

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Joe Biden has many achievements as a domestic president, including the biggest investment ever made in green energy and fighting climate change. Whatever one thinks of how he has handled the Ukraine crisis, he certainly has been decisive and has galvanized allies to act alongside him. But on the Middle […]