This administration is gunning for so many groups of people in so many different ways that it’s hard to keep track. Every response we make to each threat and violation stands up for the right that no one is expendable. Yet yesterday marked a sharp escalation of Trump’s weaponization of government that calls for a strong and united response.

Mahmoud Khalil is a fierce critic of US Middle East foreign policy and a student at Colombia University. According to reports, ICE arrived at Colombia without a warrant. They attempted to arrest Khalil saying his student visa had been revoked. When his 8-month pregnant wife showed them his green card, ICE changed stories and still detained him and saying his deportation was ordered by the State Department.

He has been charged with no crimes.

He now sits in a detention center in Louisiana — only a temporary stay from a judge is keeping him in the country.

Plenty of folks who stand by his pro-Palestinian politics are outraged — but so are folks who disagree strongly with his politics but still value the rule of law. Take outrage-machine Ann Coulter: “Unless they’ve committed a crime, isn’t this a violation of First Amendment?” The Zionist Jewish Council for Public Affairs swiftly condemned the arrest: “Any Jew who thinks this is going to start and stop with a few Palestinian activists is fooling themselves… Our community should not be used as an excuse to upend democracy & the rule of law.”

This is far greater than the specifics of Khalil’s politics or situation. This is the government arbitrarily abducting based on identity and belief.

Trump wants to frighten opposition. He wants to show his base he can bully people without reprisal. And he wants to expand his powers.

So our response should counter each of his goals:

1. Don’t give in to fear. To quote from Dune, “Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” Be bold. Don’t shrink.

2. Don’t let him bully people without condemnation. Trump bullies with such frequency that one could spend all day in defense of his victims. There’s the $400 million threat to Colombia University, the constant attacks on the trans community, the targeting elite law firms that have opposed him, his largely unreported targeting of disability communities, and the list goes on and on.

Every act of resistance we take, any community we can find a way to stand for, matters. Removing legal residents is a wild escalation.

So please join the over 2.4 million letters that have been sent via Deportation Defense:

(Folks are encouraging calls and emails to Congress. You can join those with Jewish Voice for Peace.)

3. Keep fighting his expansion of powers. It’s a long fight, we know. But we’ll share signs we see that our pressure is working: a new independent task force is now investigating DOGE just as a judge cited that DOGE is subject to open records. The tanking of the stock market puts pressure from business elites who have largely been silent on Trump policy.

And we’ve reported for a while that Republicans are privately unhappy with DOGE. Reporters have begun to trace internal Musk meetings and private fights. Republicans grew so frustrated with raucous townhalls that they’re canceling them.

But Republican opposition is now spilling into public — some (for now, very few) Republicans are openly supporting Democratic legislation to protect probationary workers.

So, keep up whatever pieces of pressure you can. You can continue to find suggestions and advice on “What can do to fight this coup?”

Lastly, in honor of the quote “First they came for” — check out a good history lesson from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Its author Martin Neimöller was initially very enthusiastic and supportive of Hitler. But authoritarian power does not want competitors — and Neimöller’s religious views got in the way of Hitler’s desire for total power. Neimöller was tossed in a concentration camp for 8 years. Only after getting out did he say this:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Forewarned is forearmed. We have our work cut out for us, but we’re in motion and we’re not alone. Thanks for all you do to stand up for all of us.

Warmly,

– Daniel Hunter, Choose Democracy