On GPS: The US and Israel's rift over Syria
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San Francisco Chronicle
3 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Stanford Daily sues Trump administration over deportation threats
Stanford's student newspaper sued the Trump administration on Wednesday for threatening to deport any noncitizen who criticizes Israel or U.S. foreign policy, saying the government is violating freedom of speech and intimidating campus journalists into censoring their own articles. 'In the United States of America, no one should fear a midnight knock on the door for voicing the wrong opinion,' lawyers for the Stanford Daily, the university's independent 133-year-old publication, wrote in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose. They said staff writers holding legal U.S. visas 'are declining assignments related to the conflict in the Middle East, worried that even reporting on the conflict will endanger their immigration status.' One editor resigned from the newspaper, another editor and present and former reporters have asked to have their articles removed from the website and 'international students have also largely stopped talking to Stanford Daily journalists,' the suit said. It was filed a day after Stanford officials announced that they might lay off 363 non-teaching employees this fall because of a $750 million tax increase imposed by President Donald Trump's budget bill. The lawsuit is among multiple legal challenges to the Trump administration's attacks on pro-Palestinian protesters and their universities. A central issue, cited by the newspaper's lawyers, is Secretary of State Marco Rubio's claim that he can order deportation of any noncitizen for statements he considers 'anti-American' or 'anti-Israel.' Rubio cited a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that allows the secretary of state to revoke a noncitizen's legal status if the secretary decides the person's 'beliefs, statements or associations … compromise a compelling United States foreign policy interest.' He invoked that provision against Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and pro-Palestinian activist at Columbia University who was arrested in March and held in a Louisiana jail for 104 days before a federal judge ordered his release. Other campus activists have also been jailed, and Stanford reported that the visas of six students were revoked less than two weeks after Rubio's announcement in March. The lawsuit said Rubio's claim that a student's criticism of Israel harms a 'compelling United States foreign policy interest' is questionable — but regardless, his actions violate the Constitution's First Amendment, which protects noncitizens under a 1945 Supreme Court ruling. 'The First Amendment cements America's promise that the government may not subject a speaker to disfavored treatment because those in power do not like his or her message,' wrote the attorneys, Marc Van Der Hout of San Francisco and Conor Fitzpatrick of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. They asked a federal judge for an injunction that would halt the threats of deportation against critics of Israel or U.S. foreign policy. Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security in the Trump administration, called the suit 'baseless.' 'DHS takes its role in removing threats to the public and our communities seriously, and the idea that enforcing federal law in that regard constitutes some kind of prior restraint on speech is laughable,' McLaughlin said in a statement. She said the United States has 'no room' for 'the rest of the world's terrorist sympathizers.'
Wall Street Journal
4 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
WSJ Opinion: Israel Considers Reoccupying Gaza as the Humanitarian Crisis Continues
Israel contemplates reoccupying Gaza, but the move could lead to being responsible for millions of Palestinian lives and the possibility of Hamas returning to power. How can Benjamin Netanyahu raise the pressure on Hamas to accept a deal? Photo: Monica Espitia
Bloomberg
34 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Istanbul Projects in Limbo as Mayor, City Officials Locked Up
Over 100 Istanbul officials have been detained since mid-March, including Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was arrested just days before he planned to announce his run for Turkey's president. Their arrests, seen by many as a crackdown on political dissent by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have not only disrupted day-to-day governance but also stalled critical projects — including those aimed at fortifying the city against earthquakes. Meanwhile, the central government is advancing its push for Kanal Istanbul, a multibillion-dollar canal project that stands to strain the region's resources. It had been strongly opposed by Imamoglu, who referred to it as 'a dagger intended to be thrust into the city's heart.' Read more from contributor Jennifer Hattam today on CityLab: Major Istanbul Projects Are Stalling as City Leaders Sit in Jail
