Immigration Archives

Are Protests Now "Terrorism?"

It will be for some ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

March 11, 2025

The weather is absolutely gorgeous in New Jersey, which means it is officially hiking season for me and my mini. We’re packin’ snacks, makin’ tracks, and yelling “dog” every time we see one.

And speaking of sunny optimism, thanks to all of you who turned out for our International Women’s Day event at the Brooklyn Museum last Saturday! We loved seeing every one of you almost as much as Aurora James loved seeing Diane von Furstenberg.

ALL LOVE! (PHOTO BY REDENS DESROSIERS)

In today’s newsletter, we look at the larger impact of a student arrest, plus a frightening report on who exactly is in our state legislatures. Plus, the second annual Meteor Madness bracket group is now open.

From the trail,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

A green card didn’t save him: On Saturday, Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia University in New York and a vocal member of the pro-Palestinian movement on campus, was arrested by Department of Homeland Security officers in the lobby of his university-owned apartment building. According to Khalil’s attorney, who spoke to NPR, he was told by the arresting officers that he was being apprehended because his student visa had been canceled. When Khalil, who is Palestinian, told officers that he was a legal permanent resident with a green card, they said that his green card had been revoked, too. He was arrested without a warrant, and for several hours, his lawyers and his wife could not find him. He is now in a detention center in Louisiana—although attempts to deport him were temporarily blocked by a federal judge on Monday morning.

A little context: Khalil’s arrest comes on the heels of an executive order issued by Donald Trump which promised to detain and deport “Hamas sympathizers on college campuses” and any non-citizen who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity.” (There is no evidence he has committed a “criminal offense,” The Atlantic reported. ) But Trump is still taking a twisted victory lap, posting on Truth Social: “This is the first arrest of many to come,” he wrote, calling protesters “paid agitators” and “terrorist sympathizers.”

Khalil has not been charged with a crime, nor is there proof that he’s a “paid agitator.” There’s no evidence that he’s said anything threatening or violent. He was, however, a very visible protester of the genocide in Gaza. He’s a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition demanding the school’s divestment from Israel. A quick search of Khalil will turn up photos of him at protests, sit-ins, rallies, and encampments. But those activities—per the Constitution!—are not crimes. So let’s be clear: Mahmoud Khalil is a political prisoner, punished for exercising his First Amendment rights.

A lot of us are rightly up in arms about Khalil’s arrest—an arrest that feels ironic because Mahmoud Khalil is what the state would normally consider a “model minority.” He has a master’s degree from a prestigious institution, he’s a husband and soon-to-be father, and he presented a green card at the time of his arrest. But none of that saved him—all because he expressed views the government disagreed with.

PROTESTORS GATHERING ON KHALIL'S BEHALF IN NEW YORK CITY. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

So as social-media users have been asking: If basic human rights are not extended to people like Khalil, who is protected? If you can disappear someone with a green card, who can’t you disappear? These are fair questions. It’s also worth a reminder that other vulnerable people’s rights were taken away recently with far less outcry. In January, the bipartisan Laken Riley Act rendered due process a thing of the past for undocumented immigrants; the bill is apparently a driving force in the increase in targeted ICE raids. Just last month, more than 100 Venezuelans —some of whom had no criminal charges against them—were also “disappeared” after being detained in Guantanamo Bay. What’s being done to Khalil is egregious, but it’s not isolated. Like many immigrants, Khalil sensed he could become a target and reached out for help, only for it to fall on deaf ears.

When the president of the United States promised months ago that he was coming for everyone who was against him, we should have believed him—and not waited until he came for someone with a green card.

AND:

A new report from the National Women’s Defense League found that there have been approximately 400 allegations of sexual harassment filed against 145 sitting state lawmakers between 2013 and 2024. (A note in the report clarifies that the number of actual incidents is likely three times higher.) Now, are these the same people we task with writing laws meant to protect victims from assault or??? (They are.)
Elizabeth Oyer, a pardon attorney with the Department of Justice, was fired last week—just one day after she refused to grant an unusual request: to restore Mel Gibson’s right to own a gun. Oyer was part of a working group that had been given a list of names to consider for gun-rights restoration. She was later told by her superiors to add Gibson, who pleaded no contest to domestic abuse in 2011. Normally, those convicted of homicide, domestic abuse, or armed robbery are not eligible for gun rights restoration; even the very pro-gun Supreme Court agrees with that policy. So, following that well-established precedent, Oyer denied the request. “There are real consequences that flow from people who have a history of domestic violence being in possession of firearms,” she told the New York Times. But after her denial, she was pressured to reconsider her recommendation, given what a senior Justice Department official called Gibson’s “personal relationship with the president” and his recent appointment to a special position. She was fired on Friday. (No word yet on if or when Gibson will get what he wants.)
Today the Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit brought by 19 Republican attorneys general seeking to block climate change lawsuits in their respective states. The states in question are allowing their own courts to hear cases against fossil fuel companies for lying to the public about their products’ impacts on the environment. In the lawsuit, Republicans ~~whined~~ argued that largely blue states are trying to manipulate energy policy. Cry me a polluted river, dude 🙄.
Basketball sistren and bracket babes, lend me your ears! Selection Sunday for the NCAA March Madness tournament is THIS weekend, and your favorite brackmaster has already set up the group for my early birds. You can join the Meteor Madness bracket challenge by clicking here. If you competed with us last year, here's one small update: We are operating on the “upset scoring” system to make things more exciting, but just like last year, first place will be getting a sweet Meteor tote.

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Donald Trump Signs Laken Riley Act Into Law

Originally published on January 24.

Updated January 30.

Donald Trump has signed the Laken Riley Act into law, making it the first of his second term. During the signing, Trump also announced his intentions to authorize ICE to detain migrants at Guantanamo Bay, where he claimed there are "30,000 beds to detain the worst criminal aliens threatening the American people." Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth praised the decision on Fox News, referring to it as a humane option to manage deportations. But according to Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, "The facility is decrepit. It's been falling apart. It's in disrepair...And, as a practical matter, the conditions that would be created if people went there would be so substandard that it would give people opportunities to file lawsuits around the conditions of their confinement while they're being deported."

Congress passed the Laken Riley Act just last week. Named for a young woman in Georgia who was killed by a Venezuelan undocumented immigrant, it was slated to be among the first laws passed by Trump's administration (although his hand must be tired from the other stuff he’s been signing) and it is ominously fitting that the first piece of legislation he executes is an anti-immigration bill.

So what’s in it? The top line item is that any undocumented immigrant accused of non-violent crimes like theft, either in the U.S. or their home country, will now be subject to mandatory indefinite detention by ICE. They will not be allowed bond hearings in their criminal case and, once in ICE custody, can be held until deportation, which will be the most likely outcome if they’re unable to leave the detention center for preliminary trial hearings. The bill also allows for state attorneys general to sue the federal government on behalf of residents who believe they’ve been harmed by immigration policies.

To be clear, there are already policies in place for detaining and deporting convicted violent offenders. But this bill expands those policies to include anyone arrested or charged with “theft, larceny, burglary, shoplifting” or assault against a law enforcement officer, regardless of any conviction or lack thereof. “What's dangerous about this bill is that it takes away some of the basic fundamental due process tenets of our legal system," one legal expert told NPR.

This bill is a direct response to the particulars of Laken Riley’s case: The man who murdered her had previously been charged with shoplifting, and supporters of the bill argue that had he been deported after that minor crime, Laken Riley would still be alive. That is possible—but overriding the Fifth Amendment for a vast number of people is not a sensible way to protect women from being murdered. (Riley was one of the roughly 2000 women killed by men in this country every year. Fortunately, in response to these crimes, two years ago, the White House formed the first-ever government plan to end gender-based violence… Oh, wait.)

The Laken Riley Act isn’t just a GOP favorite; 12 Democrats voted for it, too—see which here—which shows just how many people believe that immigrants to the U.S. commit more crimes than its citizens. (Which, of course, is demonstrably false.) Immigrants have long been used by the GOP as boogeyman responsible for America’s troubles, and now they’ve got the tools they need to disappear as many as possible.

by Shannon Melero-Urena

No trial? No Problem

The harsh overreach of Trump's first law ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

January 23, 2025

Salutations, Meteor readers,

I love Ben Shelton more than I ever have. Ben, if you’re reading this, I want you to know that I will personally go to Australia and yell at all the broadcasters who are trying you this week. Save your energy, I got you.

In today’s newsletter, we go over a bill speeding toward Donald Trump’s desk. Plus: an emergency contraceptive newsbrief, an update on the “slut puppy” court case, and your weekend reading list.

See you at the semis,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Due process for some: Congress has passed the Laken Riley Act, named for a young woman in Georgia who was killed by a Venezuelan undocumented immigrant, and will be sending it to #47 to be signed. It will be among the first laws passed by his administration (although his hand must be tired from the other stuff he’s been signing) and it is ominously fitting that the first piece of legislation he executes is an anti-immigration bill.

So what’s in the bill? The top line item is that any undocumented immigrant accused of non-violent crimes like theft, either in the U.S. or their home country, will now be subject to mandatory indefinite detention by ICE. They will not be allowed bond hearings in their criminal case and, once in ICE custody, can be held until deportation, which will be the most likely outcome if they’re unable to leave the detention center for preliminary trial hearings. The bill also allows for state attorneys general to sue the federal government on behalf of residents who believe they’ve been harmed by immigration policies.

To be clear, there are already policies in place for detaining and deporting convicted violent offenders. But this bill expands those policies to include anyone arrested or charged with “theft, larceny, burglary, shoplifting” or assault against a law enforcement officer, regardless of any conviction or lack thereof. “What's dangerous about this bill is that it takes away some of the basic fundamental due process tenets of our legal system," one legal expert told NPR.

The Laken Riley bill isn’t just a GOP favorite; 12 Democrats voted for it, too—see which here—which shows just how many people believe that immigrants to the U.S. commit more crimes than its citizens. (Which, of course, is demonstrably false.) Immigrants have long been used by the GOP as boogeyman responsible for America’s troubles, and now they’ve got the tools they need to disappear as many as possible.

AND:

Researchers have found that ulipristal acetate, an alternative to mifepristone, has a 97% completion rate for abortion. In a normal world, this would be good news, but in the context of an anti-abortion movement eager to demonize contraception, the news is complicated: Ulipristal acetate is also found in an emergency contraceptive called Ella. “It’s going to put wind in the sails of abortion opponents who have been saying things like contraceptives can be abortifacients,” an abortion expert at UC-Davis told the New York Times. Regardless: Stock up on Ella!
Last year we shared the story of Brenda Andrew, the only woman on death row in Oklahoma. Andrew, who was convicted of murdering her estranged husband in 2004, had been subject to a misogynist trial; prosecutors called her a “slut puppy” and showed her underwear to jurors as evidence of her character. Her lawyers argued that the jury had been unfairly influenced by irrelevant anecdotes about her sexual history. This week, the Supreme Court sided with Andrew, ruling that the lower courts must now revisit her case and determine whether that evidence biased the trial. One lower court judge, who believed Andrew was entitled to a resentencing after hearing her appeal in 2007, wrote at the time: “I find it impossible to say with confidence that the death penalty here was not imposed as a consequence of improper evidence and argument.”
On January 6, 2021, Pamela Hemphill, once nicknamed the “MAGA granny,” was at the Capitol filming her fellow rioters. As a result of her choices on that day, she was convicted and sentenced to two months in prison and three years probation. But this week, when Trump’s pardons rolled out, Hemphill rejected hers, saying, “I don’t want to be part of their trying to rewrite what happened that day.” The rejection is largely symbolic—it isn’t even clear if there’s a legal way to formally reject a pardon—but Hemphill admits that she “lost [her] critical thinking” and understands she had been lied to and gaslit by the “Stop the Steal” movement. I mean...I hate to say it but...

In more first-week-of-Trump news: The move to restrict online information has been swift. Instagram accounts like that of Hey Jane and Aid Access, organizations that help American women obtain abortion pills, have been shadow-banned with their content blurred out. (Meanwhile, you may have noticed that Meta is suddenly suggesting you follow Trump.) Official government resources like the Biden-era reproductive rights page have been 404’d. If you need an example of the kind of do-something energy we’ll need to deal with all this: The two cofounders of the newsletter The Skimm went ahead and bought reproductiverightsdotgov.com and transferred all the defunct page’s information there instead.

WEEKEND READING 📚

On what’s next: Could having an accused rapist returning to the White House be a death knell for the #MeToo movement? That’s the MAGA movement’s hope. (The 19th)

On a bad start: Puerto Rico’s new Trump-supporting governor has been at work for nearly a month. Things haven’t been going well. (The Latino Newsletter)

On film: The “worst movie of the year” just got nominated for 13 Oscars including Best Picture. (Slate)

On the inauguration: This week on our own UNDISTRACTED, Brittany Packnett Cunningham assembles her group chat to break down the excruciating spectacle of Martin Luther King Day coinciding with the inauguration. It’s a conversation about the price the country has paid for the success of Barack Obama, Trump’s demonizing of DEI programs and his ironic love of meritocracy. Or, as Dr. Brittney Cooper puts it, “The idea that America is a meritocracy when Donald Trump is the president is a white boy’s wet dream.” You can catch the full episode here.

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