‘End the War’ joins the list of grievances against Trump
Could small antiwar rallies be the green shoots of an anti-imperialist movement?
Well, it’s grim out there.
I normally try to find something to cheer about every week in this newsletter – some act of resistance, or new wave of protest, or sign of growing solidarity.
But now, on top of everything else, we’re at war. Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are bringing vast amounts of death and destruction to Iran, possibly resulting in a protracted regional tragedy. It weighs on me, and likely weighs on you, too.
And what a screwed-up war, at that. Trump can’t even come up with a credible rationale for it. There was no debate and no attempt to build public support.
The lack of a public campaign also meant there was no time to build up much of an antiwar movement.
And with so many grievances against Trump already, it may have been hard for many people to summon the energy to protest this one, too.
So while there have been many antiwar protests across the nation in the last five days, turnout has not exactly been huge. Some celebratory rallies were bigger.
Several hundred protesters took to New York’s Times Square on Saturday. The Guardian interviewed one of them, healthcare worker Christina Perez, who likely spoke for many.
“It’s like constant salt in the wound. You never know what you’re going to wake up to,” she said. “Unfortunately, I’m not surprised… We’re being distracted from the things that really matter because you’re constantly being inundated. Americans have legitimate grievances, but there’s never money to solve those things and always money for war.”
Here are reports from antiwar protests on Saturday in Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Philadelphia; Minneapolis; Providence; Greensboro, North Carolina; Alameda, California; Princeton, New Jersey; and Fargo, North Dakota.
There was another round of small protests on Monday. See reports from New York and Los Angeles.
And of course there’s more to come, including protests scheduled for Saturday, March 7. Look to Mobilize, ANSWER and Indivisible, among other groups, to find events near you.
Here’s one March 7 event in Contra Costa, California, that’s a combo protest: No War in Iran -- Release the Files.
Groups including Common Cause, Indivisible, the ACLU, and Moveon are asking members to write letters and sign petitions telling Congress to stop the war.
And here a gift link to a thought-provoking New York Times opinion piece by Peter Beinart, headlined “No Empire. No Kings.” Beinart writes:
Donald Trump’s foreign policy vision is imperialism. It’s a global outlook that closely resembles Mr. Trump’s governing style at home — both feature spectacular violence and contempt for the restraints of law.
Noting the extent of the public opposition, Beinart sees the potential for a powerful anti-imperialist movement. He writes:
A revived anti-imperialist movement can rally a diverse group of Americans — progressives who oppose attacking Iran because it violates international law as well as America Firsters who oppose the war because they think America’s moral obligations end at the country’s borders.
While Mr. Trump peddles a fantasy of omnipotence in which the United States assassinates foreign leaders and bombs fishermen, anti-imperialists can help Americans adapt to an era in which they have less power. They can embrace a multipolar world because they don’t want America to be imperial Rome.
So stay tuned. I’ll keep watching.
Another Big Week in the Courts
Federal district court judges are testy about ICE not following their orders:
A West Virginia federal judge, granting a detainee’s habeas petition, issued a “final notice” to ICE to stop keeping detainees in custody without due process. “Continued detention without individualized custody determinations, after this court’s repeated holdings that such detention violates the Fifth Amendment, will result in legal consequences,” Judge Joseph R. Goodwin wrote. See this Politico article: “Judges in a Trump stronghold condemn ICE tactics.”
The top federal judge in Minnesota also threatened criminal contempt charges against officials who continue to violate court orders involving due process violations for detainees. “The Court is not aware of another occasion in the history of the United States in which a federal court has had to threaten contempt—again and again and again — to force the United States government to comply with court orders,” Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote. “One way or another, ICE will comply with this Court’s orders.”
A federal judge in New Jersey ordered the release of a detainee and demanded that the government stop arresting people and detaining them indefinitely without a hearing, as hundreds of other judges have ruled as well. Judge Zahid N. Quraishi wrote that the government’s conduct has slid downward into “manifest recklessness.” He declared: “It ends today.”
A federal judge in New Jersey, ruling in a habeas case, slammed ICE for 17 different violations of court orders not to transfer detainees out of the jurisdiction. Judge Michael E. Farbiarz is now requiring ICE and the U.S. Attorney’s office to each submit declarations in every habeas case acknowledging no-transfer orders.
And as MPR News reports, a federal judge in St. Paul summoned U.S. Attorney Dan Rosen and a top deputy to his courtroom on Tuesday, to explain why ICE failed to follow court orders to return personal belongings to detainees. Judge Jeffrey Bryan said he would decide soon whether to hold the two men in contempt of court.
In other stunning immigration-related cases:
A federal judge in Minnesota has blocked the DHS’s policy of arresting and detaining refugees who were lawfully admitted here. Citing the country’s “solemn promise to refugees fleeing persecution that after rigorous vetting, they would be welcomed to the United States and given the opportunity to rebuild their lives” and “achieve the American Dream,” Judge John R. Tunheim wrote that “The Government’s new policy breaks that promise — without congressional authorization — and raises serious constitutional concerns. The new policy turns the refugees’ American Dream into a dystopian nightmare.”
A federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration’s policy of deporting immigrants to third countries is unconstitutional. “This case is about whether the Government may, without notice, deport a person to the wrong country, or a country where he is likely to be persecuted, or tortured, thereby depriving that person of the opportunity to seek protections to which he would be undisputedly entitled,” Judge Brian E. Murphy wrote. He concluded that there are “basic questions that the Constitution permits a person to ask before the Government takes away their last and only lifeline.”
A federal judge in Oregon has barred ICE from conducting warrantless “dragnets” in the state. Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai wrote that “Defendants do not — and could not — argue that this practice is lawful. Rather, they argue that there is no such practice, and that the myriad cases presented to this Court are mere coincidence.” He wasn’t buying it. “The practices are intended to strike fear across large numbers of people throughout Oregon,” he wrote. “The persistent intensity of regular ICE immigration enforcement operations may very well have the intended effect of normalizing this level of violence. If this normalization continues, then even greater harm will be inflicted.”
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., struck down DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s continued efforts to block members of Congress from making unannounced visits to detention facilities. Judge Jia Cobb had already struck down two of Noem’s previous moves. Cobb writes: “If anything, the strength of the Court’s irreparable harm finding has become even greater over the intervening months, given that ICE’s enforcement and detention practices have become the focus of intense national and congressional interest.”
In other lawsuits against Trump:
A federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s request to delay the fight over tariff refunds for importers, now that the Supreme Court struck down declared the tariffs illegal.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., found that the Internal Revenue Service violated federal law “approximately 42,695 times” when it shared confidential taxpayer addresses with ICE last year.
All Is Not Well in Minnesota
The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that “Nearly three weeks after federal officials announced that Operation Metro Surge was over, close to 650 federal agents remain in Minnesota, Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem testified at a Senate Judiciary hearing March 3.”
That’s about four times the number that border czar Tom Homans said would stick around after promising a full drawdown.
“Were we not surprised to find that the Trump administration lied? Absolutely not,” Erika Zurawski, a co-founder of the group Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, told the Tribune.
So where are all these agents? Some of them are in small towns in Minnesota like Shakopee.
Stephen Rodrick writes movingly about Shakopee in a Rolling Stone article headlined: “A Small Town Transformed by ICE Occupation.” The town is in the third month of an ICE occupation.
Protests still continue outside the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, which has been used as a detention center. On Sunday, 38 protesters were arrested after Sheriff’s deputies issued dispersal orders for an unlawful assembly outside the Whipple building.
And the New York Times ran an insightful article headlined “Military Veterans Protesting ICE See Crackdown Through Different Lens,” based on veterans who have been on the front lines of protests in the Twin Cities.
Air Force veteran Tom Kendall told the Times: “I can’t speak for all the veterans, but a lot of us feel that we protected America once, we’ll protect America again.”
Sara Teig, an Army reserves veteran, told the Times that military-style coordination by federal agents in Minnesota reminded her of tactics she had seen during her time in Afghanistan and Kuwait. “Seeing the same practices at home felt like something of a betrayal, she said.”
And here’s some good accountability news out of Minneapolis: MPR News reports that “Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty says her office is investigating 17 alleged incidents of excessive force by federal immigration agents, and she’s asking the public to submit tips and evidence.” One incident involves Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino’s use of chemical irritants on protesters.
Great Things to Read
From the Washington Post: “D.C. students walk out of school and fill the city’s streets to protest ICE.”
From Vox, (part of a series): “US democracy has repaired itself before. Here’s how we can do it again.”
From Religion News Service: “Outside US Capitol, hundreds of United Methodists call for dismantling ICE.”
From 12 News in Phoenix: “West Valley sushi shop owner released from ICE detention after eight months.”
From the Bulwark: “Inside the Plan to Stop/Melt ICE at the Polls.”
From Religion News: “Catholic bishops: Trump’s assault on birthright citizenship affronts Catholic teaching.”
From the Contrarian: “’We Will Abolish ICE’: The New Protest Songbook.”