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.

  • BertramDitore@lemm.ee
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    4 hours ago

    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.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      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!”

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        1 hour ago

        The oligarchy and right wing propaganda machine successfully turned Liberals against the left for drawing a line in the sand at genocide…

        Well, yes and no:

        Yes, in the sense that the oligarchy is responsible for constructing the system to create the dilemma (support some genocide by voting for Harris, or support even more genocide by not voting for Harris) in the first place.

        No, in the sense that the game theory of the situation (a binary choice between Harris and Trump with no – let me repeat that: no – viable third choice) dictated that the only moral option was voting for Harris in order to minimize harm. People (including liberals and leftists) being pissed off at third-party voters and non-voters for refusing to acknowledge that reality and act accordingly isn’t the result of “propaganda,” it’s the result of having a brain that works properly.

        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!”

        Finally, I just want to make it crystal clear that this isn’t the either/or you seem to think it is. We absolutely can blame both the bought-and-paid-for Democrats and the protest-voting dipshits, and I (being a leftist with a functioning brain) very much do.

    • UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      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.

      • Saleh@feddit.org
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        26 minutes ago

        Well, during the term of Joe Biden he attacked these protestors verbally and encouraged local police and fascist MAGA terrorists to attack peaceful protest encampments with physical violence.

        The idea that Biden cared in any way about the constitutional or even basic human rights of these protestors is laughable.

      • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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        3 hours ago

        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.

      • BertramDitore@lemm.ee
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        2 hours ago

        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.