ACLU warns pro-Palestinian activist’s arrest meant ‘to intimidate and chill speech’
The Trump administration’s choice to have immigration authorities arrest pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for alleged help of Hamas is an assault on free speech, the American Civil Liberties Union warned.
“This arrest is unprecedented, unlawful, and un-American,” stated Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privateness, and Know-how Venture.
“The federal authorities is claiming the authority to deport individuals with deep ties to the U.S. and revoke their inexperienced playing cards for advocating positions that the federal government opposes. To be clear: the primary modification protects everybody within the US. The federal government’s actions are clearly supposed to intimidate and chill speech on one facet of a public debate. The federal government should instantly return Mr Khalil to New York, launch him again to his household and reverse course on this discriminatory coverage.”
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Up to date at 15.10 EDT
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Protests are underway in New York following the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia College’s pro-Palestinian protests final 12 months. Khalil, a everlasting US resident with a inexperienced card who’s a current Columbia graduate, was arrested over the weekend by immigration authorities.
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Up to date at 17.01 EDT
Wall Road suffers main losses as fears develop over Trump tariff impact
In the present day’s closing numbers from Wall Road are out and the three major indices have continued to drop. The S&P 500 fell 2.7%, the Dow Jones dropped 2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 4% as buyers offered shares within the so-called “magnificent seven” – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla. Tesla’s shares had their worst day since September 2020, falling 15%.
The autumn got here a day after Trump skirted round questions on a possible recession on Sunday. Requested if he anticipated a recession, Trump stated: “There’s a interval of transition, as a result of what we’re doing may be very huge … It takes slightly time, however I feel it ought to be nice for us.”
Kevin Hassett, the pinnacle of the nationwide financial council, informed CNBC on Monday that any uncertainty round Trump’s commerce insurance policies can be resolved by early April and that the insurance policies had been “creating jobs within the US”.
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Up to date at 16.55 EDT
We’re about 10 minutes away from the market’s shut and issues aren’t wanting good on Wall Road.
Merchants have been rattled for days by fears that Donald Trump’s tariffs towards China, Canada and Mexico, and vow to impose “reciprocal” levies towards nations worldwide subsequent month, will ship the US economic system into recession.
The phobia has been notably dangerous at the moment, resulting in steep promote offs within the three major indices. The broad-based S&P 500 is presently down 2.5%, whereas the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Common has misplaced 1.9%. Over on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, the bleeding has resulted in a 4% loss.
For sure, this isn’t what a president who touts the inventory market as a barometer of their financial success wish to see.
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Up to date at 15.55 EDT
Trump administration revokes safety clearances for Democratic officers and critics
Nationwide intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard has introduced that she has revoked the safety clearances of a number of former members of Joe Biden’s administration, in addition to critics of Donald Trump.
“Per @POTUS directive, I’ve revoked safety clearances and barred entry to categorized info for Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Lisa Monaco, Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Andrew Weissman, together with the 51 signers of the Hunter Biden ‘disinformation’ letter. The President’s Day by day Temporary is not being supplied to former President Biden,” Gabbard wrote on X.
The choice to revoke the safety clearance of Blinken, the previous secretary of state, seems to have been introduced final month. Trump earlier withdrew the clearances of Biden and former joint chiefs of employees chairman Mark Milley.
Past the Biden administration, Gabbard focused James, who has pursued a civil fraud go well with towards the Trump Group, and Manhattan district legal professional Bragg, who efficiently prosecuted the president on felony enterprise fraud expenses.
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Up to date at 15.37 EDT
A former high social safety administration official accused Elon Musk’s “division of presidency effectivity” of mendacity about alleged fraud found within the company, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly stories:
A former chief of employees on the US Social Safety Administration (SSA) described how brokers of the so-called “division of presidency effectivity” (Doge) – Elon Musk’s authorities cost-cutting operation – had been imposed on the company, assailing senior employees with questions “based mostly on the overall fable of supposed widespread fraud” and appearing with harmful disregard for information confidentiality.
In a declaration filed with a lawsuit on Friday and referring to the Doge brokers Mike Russo and Akash Bobba, Tiffany Flick stated: “We proposed briefings to assist Mr Russo and Mr Bobba perceive the numerous measures the company takes to assist make sure the accuracy of profit funds, together with these measures that assist guarantee we aren’t paying advantages to deceased people.
“Nonetheless, Mr Russo appeared fully targeted on questions … based mostly on the overall fable of supposed widespread social safety fraud, reasonably than details.”
Flick additionally stated she was “not assured” Doge brokers had “the requisite data and coaching to forestall delicate info from being inadvertently transferred to dangerous actors”, given its brokers have “by no means been vetted by SSA or skilled on SSA information, programs or packages”.
“In such a chaotic surroundings, the danger of information leaking into the unsuitable palms is important,” Flick stated.
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ACLU warns pro-Palestinian activist’s arrest meant ‘to intimidate and chill speech’
The Trump administration’s choice to have immigration authorities arrest pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for alleged help of Hamas is an assault on free speech, the American Civil Liberties Union warned.
“This arrest is unprecedented, unlawful, and un-American,” stated Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privateness, and Know-how Venture.
“The federal authorities is claiming the authority to deport individuals with deep ties to the U.S. and revoke their inexperienced playing cards for advocating positions that the federal government opposes. To be clear: the primary modification protects everybody within the US. The federal government’s actions are clearly supposed to intimidate and chill speech on one facet of a public debate. The federal government should instantly return Mr Khalil to New York, launch him again to his household and reverse course on this discriminatory coverage.”
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Up to date at 15.10 EDT
Dharna Noor
Activists had been arrested whereas disrupting the CERAWeek fossil gasoline convention on Monday, chanting “individuals over revenue”.
The protesters blocked the road exterior the convention lodge in Houston, the place vitality secretary Chris Wright and high brass from vitality firms together with Shell and Exxon spoke on Monday.
Amongst these arrested was native organizer Yvette Arellano of Texas environmental justice group Fenceline Watch.
“Human rights, not sacrifice,” she chanted because the police escorted her away.
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Up to date at 15.10 EDT
Dharna Noor
Because the CERAWeek oil and gasoline convention convened fossil gasoline bigwigs in Houston on Monday, lots of of activists staged a protest down the road.
“We want clear air, not one other billionaire,” they chanted.
Among the many featured audio system on the rally was Yvette Arellano, founder and director of Fenceline Watch, a Houston-based environmental justice group. Final 12 months, she was barred from attending CERAWeek regardless of elevating $8,500 for a ticket.
“Unfettered” fossil gasoline growth, she stated, is taking a toll on the local weather whereas polluting weak communities in Texas and past.
“It’s our communities which can be being harmed,” she stated.
Different activists hail from communities as remote as Appalachia and the Standing Rock Indigenous reservation in North Dakota.
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A narrative to observe this week is Congress’s scramble to move spending laws and avert a shutdown that may start Friday at midnight. These items usually come right down to the wire, however the Guardian’s Joseph Gedeon stories that Donald Trump is on board with the Home GOP’s proposal to maintain the federal government open. Whether or not sufficient of their lawmakers are stays to be seen:
Republican lawmakers are scrambling to avert a authorities shutdown set to start on Saturday, with Donald Trump’s backing for a short lived funding measure having instantly silenced the standard conservative opposition.
The stopgap funding invoice, referred to as a seamless decision (CR), would preserve authorities operations at present funding ranges by means of 30 September, the top of the fiscal 12 months. Republican US Home speaker Mike Johnson stated he plans to carry a procedural vote on Monday, aiming for a passage vote on Tuesday earlier than sending lawmakers dwelling for recess.
Trump instructed reluctant fellow Republicans to fall in line behind the stopgap invoice that might fund the federal government by means of September. “All Republicans ought to vote (Please!) YES subsequent week,” the president wrote on Saturday on his Reality Social platform.
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Maryam Alwan, a Palestinian American senior at Columbia who has protested alongside Mahmoud Khalil, informed Reuters she was “horrified for my expensive good friend Mahmoud, who’s a authorized resident, and I’m horrified that that is solely the start”.
Columbia issued a revised protocol for a way college students and faculty employees ought to take care of federal immigration brokers searching for to enter non-public faculty property, Reuters stories, saying they may enter and not using a judicial arrest warrant in “exigent circumstances”, which it didn’t specify.
“By permitting ICE on campus, Columbia is surrendering to the Trump administration’s assault on universities throughout the nation and sacrificing worldwide college students to guard its funds,” the Pupil Employees of Columbia stated in an announcement.
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Up to date at 15.11 EDT
The transfer to arrest and detain Palestinian scholar activist Mahmoud Khalil comes after the Trump administration introduced final week that it could revoke about $400m in federal grants and contracts from Columbia College.
The Trump administration alleges that the college has not performed sufficient to cease antisemitism on campus.
“Universities should adjust to all federal antidiscrimination legal guidelines if they will obtain federal funding. For too lengthy, Columbia has deserted that obligation to Jewish college students finding out on its campus,” schooling secretary Linda McMahon stated in an announcement on Friday.
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Up to date at 13.44 EDT
Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest is the primary publicly recognized deportation effort below Trump’s promised crackdown on college students who joined protests towards the struggle in Gaza that swept school campuses final spring, the Related Press reported Sunday.
The Trump administration has claimed contributors forfeited their rights to stay within the nation by supporting Hamas.
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Up to date at 14.02 EDT
‘Reeks of McCarthyism’: outrage after Ice detains Palestinian scholar activist
Anna Betts
Earlier than Trump addressed Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest, free speech organizations and advocates are expressing outrage over his detention over the weekend.
Khalil, a everlasting US resident with a inexperienced card, was taken into custody by federal immigration authorities on Saturday night time, who reportedly stated that they had been appearing on a state division order to revoke his inexperienced card.
Learn the complete story:
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Trump confirms arrest and detention of Palestinian activist: ‘the primary arrest of many to come back’
In a put up on Reality Social, president Donald Trump confirmed the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a distinguished Palestinian activist and everlasting US resident with a inexperienced card.
“That is the primary arrest of many to come back,” Trump stated.
The president stated Ice took Khalil, who led protests at Columbia College throughout his time as a scholar there, into custody after his govt order and claimed, with out proof, that related activists on school campuses are paid agitators, not college students.
Right here’s the textual content of Trump’s full put up:
Following my beforehand signed Government Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Overseas Professional-Hamas Pupil on the campus of Columbia College. That is the primary arrest of many to come back. We all know there are extra college students at Columbia and different Universities throughout the Nation who’ve engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American exercise, and the Trump Administration won’t tolerate it. Many aren’t college students, they’re paid agitators. We are going to discover, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our nation — by no means to return once more. When you help terrorism, together with the slaughtering of harmless males, ladies, and youngsters, your presence is opposite to our nationwide and international coverage pursuits, and you aren’t welcome right here. We anticipate each one among America’s Faculties and Universities to conform. Thanks!
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Up to date at 14.49 EDT
Ontario imposes tax on energy exports to 3 US states in retaliation for tariffs
Ontario premier Doug Ford introduced a 25% tax on exports of electrical energy to New York, Minnesota and Michigan in retaliation for the tariffs Donald Trump imposed on Canada final week, the Related Press stories.
Trump has since exempted many Canadian merchandise from the 25% levies, however Ford refused to again down and warned he might improve the surcharge and even lower off electrical energy exports solely if the US escalates its tariffs.
Right here’s extra, from the AP:
“I can’t hesitate to extend this cost. If the United State escalates, I can’t hesitate to close the electrical energy off fully,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford stated at a information convention in Toronto.
“Imagine me once I say I don’t need to do that. I really feel horrible for the American individuals who didn’t begin this commerce struggle. It’s one one who is accountable, it’s President Trump.”
Ford stated Ontario’s tariff would stay in place regardless of the one-month reprieve from Trump, noting a one-month pause means nothing however extra uncertainty. Quebec can also be contemplating taking related measures with electrical energy exports to the U.S.
Ford’s workplace stated the brand new market guidelines require any generator promoting electrical energy to the U.S. so as to add a 25% surcharge. Ontario’s authorities expects it to generate income of $300,000 Canadian {dollars} ($208,000) to CA$400,000 ($277,000) per day, “which might be used to help Ontario employees, households and companies.”
The brand new surcharge is along with the federal authorities’s preliminary CA$30 billion ($21 billion) value of retaliatory tariffs have been utilized on gadgets like American orange juice, peanut butter, espresso, home equipment, footwear, cosmetics, bikes and sure pulp and paper merchandise.
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The day up to now
Secretary of state Marco Rubio introduced that USAid had cancelled the vast majority of its packages, whereas the remainder might be folded into the state division. The choice was reportedly made early, and after lots of the shuttered support company’s companions believed they’d extra time to request to protect their packages. It was additionally met with approval from Elon Musk, after stories emerged final week that he squabbled with Rubio at a cupboard assembly attended by Donald Trump. In the meantime, the arrest of pro-Palestinian activist and US inexperienced card holder Mahmoud Khalil by immigration brokers has sparked issues that the Trump administration is trying to retaliate towards speech it doesn’t approve of. The homeland safety division stated Khalil’s detention was in step with an govt order focusing on “actions aligned to Hamas”.
Right here’s what else has occurred at the moment up to now:
Wall Road fell considerably as merchants grew involved over the likelihood that Trump’s commerce struggle will ship the US economic system right into a recession.
A high state division official has a historical past of insulting his boss in social media posts, amongst many different questionable statements.
Trump will signal extra govt orders at 3pm, although the White Home didn’t say what they’ll concern.
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