Every American should read this judge's stirring rebuke to Trump | Austin Sarat

"This seems especially true when it comes to his treatment of this country's millions of non-citizen residents. From the start of his political career, demonizing immigrants has been Trump's stock in trade. Since his return to office, he has been unusually aggressive in his campaign to round up, detain and deport people whose citizenship status is questionable, and, in some cases, citizens have been caught up in the dragnet."

"The administration has repeatedly violated the constitution by targeting people because of how they look or the sound of their accents. It has even singled them out because of what they have said or written. On 30 September, Judge William Young of the United States district court of Massachusetts made clear that when it comes to freedom of speech, the constitution does not distinguish between people born in the United States and those who have come here as immigrants."

"In his opinion, the judge went beyond the usual bounds of a judicial decision to note that the president ignores everything The Constitution, our civil laws, regulations, mores, customs, practices, courtesies all of it; the President simply ignores it all when he takes it into his head to act. Young added: While the President naturally seeks warm cheering and gladsome, welcoming acceptance of his views,"

Democracy requires citizens to do more than protect their own interests and defend their own rights; collective solidarity is essential. In recent years, immigrant populations have faced intensified demonization and aggressive campaigns to round up, detain, and deport people with questionable citizenship status. Some U.S. citizens have been ensnared in these enforcement actions. The administration repeatedly targeted individuals based on appearance, accents, or political speech. A federal judge in Massachusetts held that freedom of speech protections apply equally to immigrants and foreign scholars. The court found that efforts to detain and deport pro-Palestinian scholars violated constitutional free-speech rights and issued a personal rebuke to presidential conduct.

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