University of Michigan drops private security after reports of surveillance
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan said it's cutting ties with a private security company that was accused of following pro-Palestinian activists on and off campus.
The university said it found the actions of one security company employee "disturbing, unacceptable and unethical." It did not elaborate.
'Going forward, we are terminating all contracts with external vendors to provide plainclothes security on campus,' President Domenico Grasso said in a statement Sunday.
In a Guardian story last week, students said they were surveilled around Ann Arbor. The news outlet posted video from a member of a Muslim group who decided to confront a man who was watching him from a car last summer. That man in turn yelled and accused him of trying to steal his wallet.
Tensions have been high between the university and pro-Palestinian student groups. A student encampment stood for a month on campus last year before authorities shut it down citing safety issues.
Seven people were charged with felonies related to the encampment's removal, though charges were dropped in May.
The university, which has campus police, said it hired private security about a year ago to report suspicious activity in high-traffic areas, not to perform surveillance.
'No individual or group should ever be targeted for their beliefs or affiliations,' Grasso said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
14 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Government must release Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil, but has until Friday to appeal, judge says
NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge has ruled that the government must release Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student whom the Trump administration is trying to deport over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. But Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, will remain in custody until at least Friday, giving the government time to appeal, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said Wednesday. 'The court's decision is the most significant vindication yet of Mahmoud's rights,' said Ramzi Kassem, co-director of CLEAR, a legal nonprofit and clinic at the City University of New York that represents Khalil. 'But we aren't out of the woods until Mahmoud is free and back home with his wife and child.' Lawyers and spokespersons for the Justice Department, which is handling the case, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Khalil was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under President Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. He was then flown across the country and taken to an immigration detention center in Louisiana, thousands of miles from his attorneys and wife, a U.S. citizen who gave birth to their first child while he was in custody. Khalil's lawyers challenged the legality of his detention, accusing the Trump administration of trying to suppress free speech. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he has the power to deport Khalil because his presence in the U.S. could harm foreign policy. Farbiarz had ruled earlier that expelling Khalil from the U.S. on those grounds was likely unconstitutional. In his new ruling Wednesday, the judge said that Khalil had shown that his continued detention is causing irreparable harm to his career, his family and his free speech rights. However, the judge put his order on hold until 9:30 a.m. Friday to allow the government time to appeal. In his ruling, Farbiarz cited Khalil's statement to the court last week that the revocation of his green card has damaged his career prospects, including a decision by Oxfam International to rescind a job offer to serve as a policy adviser. The judge also noted that the decision deterred Khalil from engaging in constitutionally protected protests and free speech-related activities. 'The Court finds as a matter of fact that the Petitioner's career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled — and this adds up to irreparable harm,' the judge wrote. Farbiarz noted in his ruling that the government has also argued it is detaining and deporting Khalil in part because of alleged omissions on his green card application. But the judge said evidence presented by his attorneys showed lawful permanent residents are virtually never detained for such a thing. Khalil, in his statement to the court last week, also disputed that he wasn't forthcoming on the application. For example, he said he was never employed by or served as an 'officer' of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, as the administration claims, but completed an internship approved by the university as part of his graduate studies. The judge's decision comes after several other legal residents targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri. Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify the deportation of Khalil and others, which gives him power to deport those who pose 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.' Khalil isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The government, however, has said that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and 'pro-Hamas,' referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Khalil, then an international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The university brought police in to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn't among the people arrested in connection with the demonstrations. But images of his maskless face at protests, along with his willingness to share his name with reporters, made him an object of scorn among those who saw the protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused Khalil of 'siding with terrorists,' but has yet to give any evidence for the claim. Offenhartz and Marcelo write for the Associated Press.
Hamilton Spectator
23 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Troops begin detaining immigrants in national defense zone at border in escalation of military role
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — U.S. troops have begun directly detaining immigrants accused of trespassing on a recently designated national defense zone along the southern U.S. border, in an escalation of the military's enforcement role, authorities said Wednesday U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Chad Campbell described in detail the first detentions by troops last week of three immigrants accused of trespassing in a national defense area near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Those migrants were quickly turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and are now among more than 1,400 migrants to have been charged with illegally entering militarized areas along that border, under a new border enforcement strategy from President Donald Trump's administration. Troops are prohibited from conducting civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil under the Posse Comitatus Act. But an exception known as the military purpose doctrine allows it in some instances. Authorities 'noticed three individuals crossing the protective barrier into the United States,' Campbell said. 'A Department of Defense response went to interdict those three individuals, told them to sit down. ... In a matter of three minutes, border patrol agents came in to apprehend. So that three minutes is that temporary detention' by the military. Trump has designated two national military defense areas along the southern U.S. border for New Mexico and a 60-mile (97-kilometer) stretch of western Texas, from El Paso to Fort Hancock, while transferring much of the land from the Interior Department to oversight by the Department of Defense for three years. The Trump administration plans eventually to add more militarized zones along the border, a military spokesman said Wednesday at a news conference in El Paso. 'We have been very clear that there will be additional National Defense Areas across the southern border,' said Geoffrey Carmichael, a spokesperson for an enforcement task force at the southern border. 'I won't speculate to where those are going to be.' Proponents of the militarized zones, including federal prosecutors, say the approach augments traditional efforts by Customs and Border Protection and other law enforcement agencies to secure the border. 'These partnerships and consequences exist so that we can promote the most humane border environment we've ever had,' El Paso sector Border Patrol Chief Agent Walter Slosar said. 'We are dissuading people from entering the smuggling cycle ... to make sure that smugglers cannot take advantage of individuals who are trying to come into the United States.' Defense attorneys — and judges in some instances — are pushing back against the novel application of national security charges against immigrants who enter through those militarized zones — and carry a potential sentence of 18 months in prison on top of a possible six-month sentence for illegal entry. A judge in New Mexico has dismissed more than 100 national security charges against immigrants, finding little evidence that immigrants knew about the national defense areas. Those migrants still confronted charges of illegal entry to the U.S. In Texas, a Peruvian woman who crossed the U.S. border illegally was acquitted of unauthorized access to a newly designated militarized zone in the first trial under the Trump administration's efforts. U.S. Attorney Justin Simmons, who oversees western Texas, vowed to press forward with more military trespassing charges. 'We're gonna keep going forward on these NDA charges,' Simmons said. 'We are gonna still bring them, we may win on them, we may not. ... At the end of the day, you are not going to be allowed to stay in this country if you enter this country illegally.' Greater military engagement at the border takes place at the same time dozens of mayors from across the Los Angeles region banded together Wednesday to demand that the Trump administration stop the stepped-up immigration raids that have spread fear across their cities and sparked protests across the U.S . Trump has authorized the deployment of an additional 2,000 National Guard members to respond to immigration protests in LA. That directive brings the total number of Guard put on federal orders for the protests to more than 4,100. The Pentagon had already deployed about 700 Marines to the protests to the city. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
New York Post
27 minutes ago
- New York Post
This is all the riot gear LA cops are using to break up anti-ICE protests amid ‘explosive escalation'
Los Angeles cops have fired hundreds of rounds of less-lethal ammunition, deployed tear gas and flash bangs to break up the anti-ICE protests that have raged for nearly a week across Southern California. More than 200 people were arrested on Tuesday night alone after Mayor Karen Bass instituted a curfew on Los Angeles. 'The most explosive escalation of tensions between demonstrators and police since the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 is currently unfolding in Los Angeles over Trump's 'mass deportation agenda,'' said Kieran Doyle, with Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, a group that tracks civil unrest and wars. Advertisement 16 Police in riot gear in downtown Los Angeles during anti-ICE protests. Toby Canham for NY Post 16 A protester getting arrested by the California Highway Patrol in downtown LA on June 10, 2025. AP Here are some of the riot tools that cops are deploying across Los Angeles to stop rioters and control protests. Tear gas Advertisement Also called CS gas, for the active ingredient it uses, the has been deployed by both the LAPD and California Highway Patrol — in the form of hand-held canisters — to disperse hostile crowds. Tear gas is banned for use in warfare under the Geneva Protocol, but is commonly used for riot control by police. 16 Protesters running as police officers use tear gas and flash bangs at the Federal Building in Santa Ana on June 9, 2025. AP 16 A protester washing his eyes out with milk after getting hit with tear gas. eff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP Advertisement 16 A protester wiping her eyes after tear gas was deployed in LA on June 6, 2025. AP Impact rounds or baton rounds This 'less-lethal ammo' is fired from either a specialized launcher or a modified shotgun. These can cause blunt force injuries and lacerations. The LAPD fired off some 600 baton rounds over the weekend, using lighter rubberized foam projectiles in place of traditional rubber bullets, the WSJ reported. Advertisement 16 A police officer firing less lethal munitions at a protester in downtown LA on June 9, 2025. Photo by RINGO CHIU/AFP via Getty Images 16 Bruises on a protester's torso after getting hit with 'less-lethal ammo' Photo by16 An officer holding a less lethal munition launcher outside the Edward Roybal Federal Building. Getty Images Many police departments started using these as a less dangerous alternative to rubber bullets, which caused serious injures, including in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Officers are often trained to aim these low so that they bounce off the ground, so as to avoid head injuries. However, New York Post photographer Toby Canham appears to have been shot with one of these rounds directly in the head while snapping images of a riot this week. 16 Cops under a bridge fire a baton round, which New York Post photographer Toby Canham. Toby Canham for NY Post Advertisement 16 Canham was hit by a less-lethal round during the latest unrest in LA. Louise Barnsley He captured an incredible image of the projectile coming straight at him before he was hit. The round left him with a massive wound on his forehead. Similarly, an Australian TV reporter appears to have been shot with one of these rounds live on the air. Pepper balls Authorities in LA have used pepper balls — a less-lethal projectile designed to burst on impact and release pepper spray for crowd control. Advertisement 16 An LA County Sheriff's deputy preparing to use a pepper ball gun during protests in Paramount on June 7, 2025. 16 Police officers firing pepper spray balls at protesters at the Los Angeles Federal Building entrance on June 6, 2025. REUTERS These chemicals can cause a burning sensation to exposed skin, coughing and gagging, and watering and closing off the eyes. These are fired from weapons that look like paintballs guns. Batons Advertisement 16 Police are using different tactics and weapons to try and manage the latest protests. Toby Canham for NY Post 16 A Los Angeles Metro Police officer preparing to swing a baton on June 8, 2025. REUTERS 16 A press photographer wounded during a protest in Compton, LA over the weekend. AP The LAPD and California Highway Patrol have used batons made of either wood, metal or polycarbonate to strike demonstrators. Advertisement Night sticks are among the oldest tools in law enforcement when it comes to crowd control and making arrests of hostile people. 16 A flash bang canister seen on the ground in downtown LA on June 9, 2025. REUTERS Flash bangs (stun grenades) Used by both the military and the police, flash bangs explode with both a blinding flash and a deafening boom. The aim is to disorient targets.
