ICE accused of faking 'alien harboring' allegations to snatch activists
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents lied to federal judges about the reasons they needed warrants to enter the homes of Columbia University students and arrest them, according to attorneys investigating the matter.
Per The Guardian, "a recently unsealed search warrant application shows that ICE told a judge it needed a warrant because the agency was investigating Columbia University for 'harboring aliens.'" However, according to the allegation, the warrant application was a "pretext" so they could "try to arrest two students, including one green card holder, in order to deport them."
Nathan Freed Wessler, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, put it bluntly to The Guardian: ICE “was manufacturing an allegation of ‘harboring’, just so agents can get in the door,” when what they were "actually trying to do is get into these rooms to arrest them."
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The two students in question were Yunseo Chung and Ranjani Srinivasan, who were singled out for their pro-Palestianian organizing, according to the report, which stated that last month, "an agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an office within ICE, filed the application for a search and seizure warrant with a federal judge in New York, saying that it was investigating Columbia University for 'harboring aliens'. The agent claimed he believed there was 'evidence, fruits and instrumentalities' that could prove the government’s case against the university."
The judge granted the warrant on that basis.
The allegations, if true, would not be the first time ICE agents have been caught lying to gain access to targets. In another recent incident, ICE agents falsely claimed to faculty at a school in Los Angeles that they had permission from parents to interrogate immigrant children, when they did not.
President Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to deport international students who participated in protests against Israel, and since taking office, his administration has aggressively pursued this, with several students being snatched out of their homes or even at naturalization interviews.
Federal judges have on several occasions ordered the release of those students. One, Columbia University's Mohsed Mahdawi, defiantly called out Trump after being released, saying, "I am not afraid of you."