As protests arise and First Amendment questions mount surrounding the immigration detention of Mahmoud Khalil, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., penned and circulated a letter demanding the immediate release of the recent Columbia University graduate.
It found little support among Tlaib’s colleagues in Washington, with a mere 14 Democrats signing their names on the letter condemning Khalil’s detention as an “illegal abduction.”
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., who counts Khalil as one of his constituents, did not sign the letter. When contacted by The Intercept about the case, Espaillat said he expects the Trump administration — which has explicitly flouted and sought to circumscribe federal legal protections for civil liberties — to adhere to the rule of law.
The Trump administration itself has admitted the case against Khalil does not hinge on allegations that he broke the law and told a conservative news outlet that it will these proceedings as a blueprint to target other students.
I voted for Fuck Schumer at least twice. Never again.
his ass needs primaried. hard.
I’m sure that all of the important people who would never consider us such a thing have suddenly started considering such a thing.
Shit, Hakeem Jefferies was my District Rep, and I voted for him at least twice because of how “standup“ he was to anything else. But seeing him fall a suit with Schumer and capitulate to the worst of things that must be vocally and outright resisted at all costs Has really changed my view of progressive politics. And I thought I was way more progressive than most. I blame “establishment” Dems like Schumer for ruining his message.
As a New Yorker, I have attended several Bernie rallies (form 2015-today) and have met him on a handful of occasions. What a great guy! But our entire democracy cannot rest on a single 80-something year-old, no matter how fucking amazing he is (and he IS great!). The entire Democratic Party should be aligned with him, but, sadly, like the rest of our entire government, nobody is aligned with anything other than self-preservation (at best) or self-enrichment (at worst). Except for a tiny few. AOC is part of that best group, and as long as I can draw breath, I will push hard for her and those of similar positions, and show up for protests against anything other than the progressiveness that this country absolutely must adopt in order to survive a larger and global order, especially as the logic global order, itself, it’s to survive.
Democracy, freedom, and equity. Anyone who supports anything different is an enemy of everyone.
Hakeem Jeffries was a spearhead AIPAC voice for the Gaza genocide. He is one of the most vile establishment Democrats and I am astounded anyone could deem him progressive.
Here is a tip: if you want to find out which Democrats are standup people, look at how they voted on Gaza. If they do not care about brown people in the Middle East they also do not care about you.
Not when he first ran, and not until quite a bit into his second term. In the beginning, when I voted for him, he positioned himself as a progressive Democrat and ally of AOC.
What has happened since then, I’m really sorry about that, as far as I can be considered to blame as an individual voter.
If you’re a Democrat there is no political upside to coming out publicly for Khalil.
I had read somewhere that Khalil has some diplomatic experience and possible connections to the UK. I’m wondering if the U.S. politicians know something about him that the rest of us don’t.
Staying silent on the unlawful detention and suppression of the first amendment rights of a legal permanent resident would be unforgivable. If this specific case doesn’t cause outrage and epitomize the lawlessness and cruelty of this administration, then nothing will.
There is no political upside to staying silent on this issue. This is not the time to spread unsourced rumors about a facially law-abiding permanent resident, it’s the time to insist our government follow the laws that the rest of us are subject to. Follow due process, and if there are genuine issues with his case, deal with them within the bounds of the law. But keeping quiet and just assuming this administration will follow the law is foolish. We all need to loudly stand up for this man and his rights, otherwise no one will stand up for us when the time comes.
It’s hard to empathize after the paelestinian protestors chose this over “genocide Joe”.
So because a small group of voters made a decision that you (and I) disagree with, their rights shouldn’t be protected by the law? That’s not how this is supposed to work.
Now you’re getting it. The oligarchy and right wing propaganda machine successfully turned Liberals against the left for drawing a line in the sand at genocide…
Liberals: “should we blame our party for being bought and paid for by the oligarchy? Should we blame ourselves for failing to motivate the 100M adults who sit out each election? For supporting genocide? No, we’ll blame the radical left “protest voters” for Trumps win, without evidence that they had any meaningful impact! This is all their fault!”
You’re purposefully misrepresenting what I said.
The way to prevent protestors from disappearing is to vote for “genocide Joe”.
Paelestinian protestors chose to discourage voters from preventing this. They chose this outcome while so many tried to prevent it.
It wasn’t my intention to misrepresent your comment, apologies if that’s how it came across.
Even though I disagree with the people who didn’t vote Dem because of the genocide, as a whole I find it incredibly easy to empathize with a subjugated population whose families are being discriminately murdered for no reason. I can’t blame them for not voting, especially when it’s unclear that their votes would have made any difference. Trump hasn’t stopped the genocide, Kamala wouldn’t have either. So the Palestinian protestors didn’t cause this man to be arrested by their actions or lack of actions. Even if they voted for Trump, I still fundamentally believe they deserve our empathy and a forceful defense of their rights.
They aren’t a monolith. I attended the protests and voted for genocide Joe. I’m sure many others did too.
Not that people who didn’t deserve any of this. This is an extremely wrongheaded way to look at this.
you’re homogenizing a group. and having marched with that group, you’re not even doing it right. “we can’t vote for kamala” was a uniquely online take. the protestors i marched with were clear the aims were to shift the dems AND get them in office
This is as insane as saying the Jews deserved the Holocaust because they called Hitler a Nazi.
