Cornell Scholars Sue Trump Administration for repression at pro-Palestinian discourse

A Cornell professor and two graduate students filed a trial against the Trump administration, claiming that recent executive orders targeting international students employed in pro-Palestinian activism violates the first amendment. The trial, submitted on Saturday to the US District Court for North District, is looking for an order at national level to stop the execution of orders.

The complainants-the teacher-Cornell Mukoma Wa Ngũgţ and the graduates Sriram Parasurama and Momodou Taal argued that the administration’s measures created a climate of fear, leading a British-Gambian national to cancel the speech commitments and political discussions. Executive orders, framed as national security protection, were used to justify deporting international students involved in critical activism for US foreign policy.

“The US government claims that it is zealous about free expression – except that it comes to Palestine,” Taal said. “This is another generational moment, another hour of account. Why is there an exception in Palestine? “

The orders led to high profile arrests, including the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian green card holder and former student of Colombia University, who was arrested last Saturday by internal security agencies and transferred to a unit in Louisiana. Other students have faced visa revisions and deportations.

Professor WA NGũgi, who attracted parallel between the repression and authoritarian regimes, described measures as a direct attack on academic universities and freedom. “I grew up under the dictatorship in Kenya. When I moved back to the US, I could not expect this attempt to cool free expression, “he said. “As a teacher, writer and scientist, this is unacceptable.”

The legal representatives for the applicants, including the Arab-American anti-discrimination committee, argue that the first amendment protects all people in the US, not just citizens and that government actions are an unconstitutional suppression of political expression.

“This process aims to claim the rights of all non-citizens and citizens in the US, but the yard is just an arena in this fight,” said the main counselor Eric Lee. “We call the population: raise and exercise your first modification rights, opposing and strongly the danger of dictatorship.”

The process aims to block the application of executive orders, while the Court considers their constitutionality, warning that the continuous repression of political discourse establishes a dangerous precedent in the US

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