https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2024/marion-county-record-raid-update/
#press #media #freespeech #usa #journalism
Given the stunning level of illegality and disregard for civil rights the Trump regime has deployed in its fascist war on student protestors who oppose a US-backed genocide in Gaza, would it surprise you at all to learn that the Department of Homeland Security probably lied their asses off to get the warrant they used to search two student dorm rooms for activists they'd targeted for illegal deportations?
https://theintercept.com/2025/03/28/ice-warrants-columbia-students-gaza-protests/
Ice Got Warrants Under “False Pretenses,” Claims Columbia Student Targeted Over Gaza Protests
"Earlier this month, while hunting for Columbia University students to deport over their ties to Gaza protests, the Trump administration convinced a federal judge to sign off on search warrants for two students’ dorm rooms — then raided the residences with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
As details about the warrants have emerged, however, so have allegations that federal agents misled the court and secured the warrants under “false pretenses,” as one of the students whose room was searched, Yunseo Chung, claimed in a lawsuit challenging her deportation.
The warrants were predicated on probable cause that Columbia was “harboring” students who were in the country illegally, court filings indicate. Chung, however, is a lawful permanent resident, notwithstanding the Trump administration’s efforts to deport her based on her arrest and citation at a Gaza sit-in. She has lived in the U.S. since she was 7 years old.
“The idea that they went before a federal magistrate judge and said, ‘We have to search Ms. Chung’s residence for evidence of Columbia harboring her’ — that shows they’re willing to lie to a judge,” said Nathan Yaffe, an immigration attorney."
This story isn't particularly complicated; DHS told a judge they needed search warrants because Colombia was "harboring and concealing illegal aliens on its campus" specifically to find two students it knew had legal status to be in the country. Of course Trump's warpig lapdog Marco Rubio is arguing that the student(s) were "illegal" because he unilaterally revoked their student visas/green cards, but actually he can't legally do that and since the government hasn't brought the matter before an immigration judge, the targets of the warrant were straight up ineligible for the crime the warrant was seeking to find evidence for or suspects for an arrest.
More of this please:
The #NY State #Education Dept issued a defiant response to #Trump’s threats to pull federal #funding from #PublicSchools over #diversity, #equity & #inclusion programs, a remarkable departure from recent conciliatory approaches of other institutions. A day earlier, the federal govt issued a memo to education ofcls across the nation, telling them to confirm the elimination of all programs it argues *unfairly* promote #DEI.
#law #democracy #FreeSpeech
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/us/politics/new-york-trump-dei-order.html?smid=url-share
@wobweger@mstdn.social@mastodonmigration
indeed,
#democracy is build on courage and accountability, on #FreeWill and #FreeSpeech
cowardliness and yes-person are it's threat, if not downfall
neutral / objective #journalism is very useful as well
“[If you tell parents] that their education is being politicized, I think you can really control people’s fear. People have a lot of fear around how their kids are growing up.” https://www.texasobserver.org/senate-gop-parental-rights-bills-school-control/
#education #schools #censorship #politics #USpol #news #Texas #TXlege #FreeSpeech #LGBTQIA+
The decision by US Dist Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, NJ, means any appeals in the #Palestinian #activist's case will be heard by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a 6-6 split between active judges appointed by Republican & Democratic presidents, instead of the #5thCircuit, the country's most #conservative appeals court.
#MahmoudKhalil
#immigration #law #ColumbiaUniversity #Constitution #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #CivilRights #DueProcess #Trump #AbuseOfPower
#ColumbiaUniversity student #MahmoudKhalil may continue to challenge the legality of his arrest by #immigration authorities in #NewJersey, rather than in #Louisiana where he is being held.
#law #Constitution #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #CivilRights #DueProcess #Trump #AbuseOfPower
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/columbia-university-protester-khalils-case-remain-new-jersey-2025-04-01/
From: blenderdumbass . org
It is quite funny to me that we live in the world full with people that contradict themselves whenever possible. Politically Conservative people tend to always bring up "Free Speech" whenever Liberal-minded people disagree with their opinions. Yet they are also very much in the business of censorship themselves. We s...
Read or listen: https://blenderdumbass.org/articles/conservative_ageists_tried_censoring_pepper___carrot
#RationalWiki is facing imminent legal peril from 5 separate defamation lawsuits from 5 #eugenics supporters. At least 2 of the lawsuits appear to be frivolous on their face. The 5 litigants are known to have acted in concert to take advantage of the weak #SLAPP protections within our state of incorporation and to bankrupt us. We need both monetary donations and legal representation (we are already aware of both the ACLU and the #EFF).
Berlin is deporting four foreign residents after their participation in protests against Israel’s war on Gaza. Three are EU citizens, including two from Ireland.
The deportation orders are unlawful, but Berlin’s senate is going ahead anyway.
@hahauenstein #Germany #Gaza #Israel #freespeech #fascism
https://theintercept.com/2025/03/31/germany-gaza-protesters-deport/
'Doctor cancelled by New York University for attempting to tell truth about Gaza
We have decided cancel culture is good now'
https://open.substack.com/pub/normalislandnews/p/doctor-cancelled-by-new-york-university?r=iwr6t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
#gaza #palestine #zionist #usa #warcrimes #freespeech
U.S. immigration is asking the public for feedback on a new proposal to collect social media handles from people applying for green cards and citizenship.
Free speech advocates are concerned over how expanded social media surveillance could impact asylum seekers, green card and citizenship applicants already living in the U.S. legally.
@AssociatedPress explains what the proposal means and how it might change online surveillance.
An editorial by Trevor Timm for the Guardian, "Elon Musk has become the world's biggest hypocrite on free speech"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/15/elon-musk-hypocrite-free-speech
44/x
NPR article from 2022, "Former Pentagon chief Esper says Trump asked about shooting protestors"
"We reached that point in the conversation where he looked frankly at [Joint Chiefs of Staff] Gen. [Mark] Milley and said, 'Can't you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?' ... It was a suggestion and a formal question. And we were just all taken aback at that moment as this issue just hung very heavily in the air."
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/09/1097517470/trump-esper-book-defense-secretary
43/x
And Musk did so by silencing anyone who disagreed, thus making the world safe for free speech.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/11/trump-tesla-boycott-musk
36/x
@DemocracyMattersALot@mstdn.socialI bet they'd be fine with PBS if Rupert owned it.
Why Republicans keep trying to murder Big Bird
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/29/2312935/-Why-Republicans-keep-trying-to-murder-Big-Bird
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
@wdlindsy@toad.social"People are being swept off the streets right now, every day, and being detained without legitimate cause. The administration is fast-forwarding to its desired conclusion and daring the courts to stop it, while also choosing which court orders to obey and which to defy. Even if the judiciary were somehow able to stop all of this, the chilling effect remains—which, after all, is the point."
~ Alex Shephard
