This crackdown serves as a broader warning to all Americans: political dissent will not be tolerated. If the government can detain and deport legal residents for exercising their rights, what protections remain for anyone else?
The First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the right to freedom speech, a cornerstone of American democracy. Protests, even those that challenge government policies or those of powerful allies like Israel, are not only legal but are a vital part of the nation’s political fabric. Yet, the Trump administration has chosen to weaponize an obscure law — one that allows the Secretary of State to deport non-citizens deemed a threat to US foreign policy — to silence dissent. This law, rarely invoked in the past, was intended to address genuine national security risks, not to punish students and scholars for their political views. By repurposing it to target pro-Palestinian voices, the administration reveals its true face, one that is fascist and racist, that intends to intimidate, suppress, and punish those who dare to criticize Israel’s crimes and US complicity, in what Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Court of Justice have described as a genocide in Gaza.
The number of protesters targeted are far greater than the few whose stories have been covered by the news media. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently disclosed that the State Department has revoked the visas of at least 300 foreign students, and many others are in the government’s sights. This figure, however, likely underrepresents the full scope of the crackdown, as high-profile cases covered by the media — such as those of Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Momodou Taal, and Yunseo Chung — are just the tip of the iceberg. These individuals, all racialized immigrants with legal status in the US, have been singled out for their activism. Their stories paint a grim picture of a government willing to trample constitutional rights and deploy Gestapo-like tactics to intimidate protesters and enforce ideological conformity.
Consider Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder married to an American, who led protests at Columbia University. He now languishes in a Louisiana ICE detention center, his green card revoked, as the State Department seeks to deport him. Or Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and PhD student at Tufts University, detained by plain clothes ICE agents near her home for writing an op-ed critical of her university’s ties to companies supporting Israel. Momodou Taal, a Cornell graduate student and dual UK-Gambia national, faces deportation proceedings after being a prominent voice in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. And Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old permanent resident who has lived in the US since she was seven, is now at risk of being deported to South Korea because of her constitutionally protected protest activities. These are not isolated incidents but part of a systematic campaign targeting hundreds of students and faculty who have spoken out against the Gaza genocide.
The parallels between the actions of the Trump administration to authoritarian regimes are unmistakable. In Russia or Communist China, dissenters are routinely “disappeared” into detention centres, their human rights denied under the guise of protecting state interests. Today, the Trump administration is employing similar tactics, using ICE as a modern-day equivalent to the Soviet KGB to round up and silence those who challenge America’s support for Israel. The racialized nature of these detentions — targeting people of colour — further underscores the administration’s fascist undertones, evoking the scapegoating and exclusionary policies of 20th-century fascist dictatorships. What we are witnessing is not about national security, it is about control, power, and punishing those whose opinions and views with whom Trump disagrees or opposes.
Legal challenges are mounting as attorneys for those detained argue that the government’s actions violate the Constitution and represent egregious government overreach. The use of a foreign policy statute to suppress free speech is a flimsy pretext, one that courts are likely to scrutinize closely. Yet, the damage is already being done. The chilling effect on campuses is very real — students and faculty, particularly those in the US on visas or green cards, now face a stark choice: speak out about Israel’s human rights crimes and risk detention, or remain silent and abandon their principles. This is not the hallmark of a free society but of a dictatorship where dissent is met with retribution and imprisonment.
The Trump administration’s motivations appear twofold. First, it is signalling unwavering loyalty to Israel and its influential Zionist supporters in the US, who have loudly condemned the protests. By cracking down on pro-Palestinian activism, Trump is doing the bidding of a foreign government and its domestic allies, prioritizing their interests over the basic rights of individuals in the US. Second, this crackdown serves as a broader warning to all Americans: political dissent will not be tolerated. If the government can detain and deport legal residents for exercising their rights, what protections remain for anyone else? This is the behaviour of a dictator who believes he is above the law, unbound by the Constitution, and free to act with impunity.
The administration’s defenders might argue that these measures are necessary to maintain order or protect US foreign policy interests. But such claims crumble under scrutiny. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, and the individuals targeted pose no credible threat to national security. Mahmoud Khalil is not a terrorist, he is a husband and human rights activist. Rumeysa Ozturk is not a spy, she is a scholar who wrote an editorial in a university newspaper. The government’s actions are not about safety — they are about silencing voices that challenge the status quo. This is the essence of authoritarianism — the use of state power to crush opposition and criticism, regardless of legality or morality.
The implications extend far beyond the current moment. If the Trump administration succeeds in normalizing these tactics, the precedent will be set for future crackdowns on any group or cause deemed inconvenient. Environmental activists, racial justice advocates, or critics of US militarism could be next. The erosion of free speech and assembly rights does not stop with one issue — it metastasizes, undermining the democratic foundations of the nation. What we are witnessing in the US is not a temporary overreaction but a deliberate step toward a fascist state where dissent is criminalized, human rights are ignored, and the government operates without accountability.
The American public must recognize this for what it is, a betrayal of the values the US claims to uphold. The Constitution is not a suggestion, it is the bedrock of the nation’s identity. By targeting pro-Palestinian protesters, the Trump administration is not just attacking a specific group of people — it is attacking the very idea of freedom. The detained students and faculty are not the only victims, every American who cherishes their rights is at risk. Silence in the face of the Trump administration’s overreach is complicity.
History offers a sobering lesson. Regimes that begin by targeting minority and marginalized groups — immigrants, students, religious communities — rarely stop there. The Gestapo in Nazi Germany did not emerge overnight. It was built through incremental steps, each one justified as necessary until dissent was extinguished entirely. The US is not yet Nazi Germany, but the parallels are too close for comfort. The arrest and detention of legal residents for exercising their rights, the use of immigration laws as a political weapon, and the blatant disregard for constitutional protections, are the hallmarks of a government sliding into fascist authoritarianism.
The Trump administration’s actions demand a forceful response. America’s Courts must strike down these abuses of power, Congress must investigate and hold those responsible accountable, and citizens must raise their voices — on campuses, in the streets, and at the ballot box — to reject this descent into fascism. The detained students and faculty are not threats to America they are its conscience, reminding Americans of the principles they risk losing. If Americans allow these voices to be silenced, they will forfeit the claim to being a free nation. The time to act is now, before the last vestiges of democracy are swept away by a dangerous regime that day by day is showing that it knows no bounds and will tolerate no dissent.
By Fareed Khan
In recent months, a chilling pattern has emerged on American university campuses. Students and faculty, many of whom hold green cards or student visas, are being arrested, detained, and threatened with deportation for participating in pro-Palestinian protests or speaking out against Israel’s genocidal crimes in Gaza. These individuals, exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech, have found themselves targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the directives of the Trump administration for their political protests. This is not merely a policy disagreement or an immigration enforcement issue — it is a stark demonstration of authoritarianism, one that echoes the repressive tactics of fascist and dictatorial regimes, and signals a dangerous erosion of democracy in the United States.
The First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the right to freedom speech, a cornerstone of American democracy. Protests, even those that challenge government policies or those of powerful allies like Israel, are not only legal but are a vital part of the nation’s political fabric. Yet, the Trump administration has chosen to weaponize an obscure law — one that allows the Secretary of State to deport non-citizens deemed a threat to US foreign policy — to silence dissent. This law, rarely invoked in the past, was intended to address genuine national security risks, not to punish students and scholars for their political views. By repurposing it to target pro-Palestinian voices, the administration reveals its true face, one that is fascist and racist, that intends to intimidate, suppress, and punish those who dare to criticize Israel’s crimes and US complicity, in what Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Court of Justice have described as a genocide in Gaza.
The number of protesters targeted are far greater than the few whose stories have been covered by the news media. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently disclosed that the State Department has revoked the visas of at least 300 foreign students, and many others are in the government’s sights. This figure, however, likely underrepresents the full scope of the crackdown, as high-profile cases covered by the media — such as those of Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Momodou Taal, and Yunseo Chung — are just the tip of the iceberg. These individuals, all racialized immigrants with legal status in the US, have been singled out for their activism. Their stories paint a grim picture of a government willing to trample constitutional rights and deploy Gestapo-like tactics to intimidate protesters and enforce ideological conformity.
Consider Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder married to an American, who led protests at Columbia University. He now languishes in a Louisiana ICE detention center, his green card revoked, as the State Department seeks to deport him. Or Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and PhD student at Tufts University, detained by plain clothes ICE agents near her home for writing an op-ed critical of her university’s ties to companies supporting Israel. Momodou Taal, a Cornell graduate student and dual UK-Gambia national, faces deportation proceedings after being a prominent voice in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. And Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old permanent resident who has lived in the US since she was seven, is now at risk of being deported to South Korea because of her constitutionally protected protest activities. These are not isolated incidents but part of a systematic campaign targeting hundreds of students and faculty who have spoken out against the Gaza genocide.
The parallels between the actions of the Trump administration to authoritarian regimes are unmistakable. In Russia or Communist China, dissenters are routinely “disappeared” into detention centres, their human rights denied under the guise of protecting state interests. Today, the Trump administration is employing similar tactics, using ICE as a modern-day equivalent to the Soviet KGB to round up and silence those who challenge America’s support for Israel. The racialized nature of these detentions — targeting people of colour — further underscores the administration’s fascist undertones, evoking the scapegoating and exclusionary policies of 20th-century fascist dictatorships. What we are witnessing is not about national security, it is about control, power, and punishing those whose opinions and views with whom Trump disagrees or opposes.
Legal challenges are mounting as attorneys for those detained argue that the government’s actions violate the Constitution and represent egregious government overreach. The use of a foreign policy statute to suppress free speech is a flimsy pretext, one that courts are likely to scrutinize closely. Yet, the damage is already being done. The chilling effect on campuses is very real — students and faculty, particularly those in the US on visas or green cards, now face a stark choice: speak out about Israel’s human rights crimes and risk detention, or remain silent and abandon their principles. This is not the hallmark of a free society but of a dictatorship where dissent is met with retribution and imprisonment.
The Trump administration’s motivations appear twofold. First, it is signalling unwavering loyalty to Israel and its influential Zionist supporters in the US, who have loudly condemned the protests. By cracking down on pro-Palestinian activism, Trump is doing the bidding of a foreign government and its domestic allies, prioritizing their interests over the basic rights of individuals in the US. Second, this crackdown serves as a broader warning to all Americans: political dissent will not be tolerated. If the government can detain and deport legal residents for exercising their rights, what protections remain for anyone else? This is the behaviour of a dictator who believes he is above the law, unbound by the Constitution, and free to act with impunity.
The administration’s defenders might argue that these measures are necessary to maintain order or protect US foreign policy interests. But such claims crumble under scrutiny. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, and the individuals targeted pose no credible threat to national security. Mahmoud Khalil is not a terrorist, he is a husband and human rights activist. Rumeysa Ozturk is not a spy, she is a scholar who wrote an editorial in a university newspaper. The government’s actions are not about safety — they are about silencing voices that challenge the status quo. This is the essence of authoritarianism — the use of state power to crush opposition and criticism, regardless of legality or morality.
The implications extend far beyond the current moment. If the Trump administration succeeds in normalizing these tactics, the precedent will be set for future crackdowns on any group or cause deemed inconvenient. Environmental activists, racial justice advocates, or critics of US militarism could be next. The erosion of free speech and assembly rights does not stop with one issue — it metastasizes, undermining the democratic foundations of the nation. What we are witnessing in the US is not a temporary overreaction but a deliberate step toward a fascist state where dissent is criminalized, human rights are ignored, and the government operates without accountability.
The American public must recognize this for what it is, a betrayal of the values the US claims to uphold. The Constitution is not a suggestion, it is the bedrock of the nation’s identity. By targeting pro-Palestinian protesters, the Trump administration is not just attacking a specific group of people — it is attacking the very idea of freedom. The detained students and faculty are not the only victims, every American who cherishes their rights is at risk. Silence in the face of the Trump administration’s overreach is complicity.
History offers a sobering lesson. Regimes that begin by targeting minority and marginalized groups — immigrants, students, religious communities — rarely stop there. The Gestapo in Nazi Germany did not emerge overnight. It was built through incremental steps, each one justified as necessary until dissent was extinguished entirely. The US is not yet Nazi Germany, but the parallels are too close for comfort. The arrest and detention of legal residents for exercising their rights, the use of immigration laws as a political weapon, and the blatant disregard for constitutional protections, are the hallmarks of a government sliding into fascist authoritarianism.
The Trump administration’s actions demand a forceful response. America’s Courts must strike down these abuses of power, Congress must investigate and hold those responsible accountable, and citizens must raise their voices — on campuses, in the streets, and at the ballot box — to reject this descent into fascism. The detained students and faculty are not threats to America they are its conscience, reminding Americans of the principles they risk losing. If Americans allow these voices to be silenced, they will forfeit the claim to being a free nation. The time to act is now, before the last vestiges of democracy are swept away by a dangerous regime that day by day is showing that it knows no bounds and will tolerate no dissent.
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