{"id":1904,"date":"2025-03-11T17:42:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T17:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/?p=1904"},"modified":"2025-03-29T15:10:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T20:10:51","slug":"this-happened-to-you-us-becoming-authoritarian-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/index.php\/2025\/03\/11\/this-happened-to-you-us-becoming-authoritarian-state\/","title":{"rendered":"A Blatant Violation of the Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A Blatant Violation of the Constitution<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Two of the most fundamental protections in the U.S. Constitution are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The First Amendment:<\/strong> The right to free speech and political expression.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Fourth Amendment:<\/strong> Protection against unlawful search and seizure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Both were obliterated in Khalil\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>First Amendment violation<\/strong> is clear: Khalil was reportedly targeted for his <strong>political speech<\/strong>\u2014handing out flyers sympathetic to Hamas. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that <strong>speech alone does not constitute \u201cmaterial support\u201d for terrorism<\/strong> (<em>Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project<\/em>, 2010). As long as Khalil was not <strong>coordinating with<\/strong> or <strong>providing aid to<\/strong> Hamas, his speech is <strong>protected<\/strong>\u2014whether or not one agrees with it.<\/p>\n<p>But the <strong>Fourth Amendment violation is even more alarming.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ICE entered <strong>a legal resident\u2019s home<\/strong> without a <strong>judicial warrant<\/strong>, arrested him <strong>without criminal charges<\/strong>, and <strong>fabricated justifications after the fact.<\/strong> This is unconstitutional. <strong>A warrantless home arrest is illegal except in extreme circumstances.<\/strong> Khalil was not in the process of committing a crime, he was not fleeing, and he was not a violent threat. There was <strong>no legal justification for his immediate detention.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>U.S. Constitution does not differentiate between immigrants and citizens when it comes to fundamental rights.<\/strong> That means <strong>there is no legal line<\/strong> between what happened to Khalil and what can happen to a U.S. citizen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Weaponizing National Security as a Pretext for Tyranny<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How did this happen?<\/p>\n<p>The justification for Khalil\u2019s arrest is tied to <strong>Trump\u2019s Executive Order 14188<\/strong>, which <strong>grants the government power to revoke visas for foreign students involved in anti-Israel protests<\/strong>. This order <strong>violates established law<\/strong>, because student visa revocations <strong>must follow due process under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).<\/strong> The <strong>President does not have unilateral authority to revoke legal status without cause.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>More importantly, Khalil <strong>was not on a student visa<\/strong>\u2014he was a <strong>legal resident.<\/strong> Yet, ICE still cited this executive order, <strong>proving it is being used as a blanket tool to target dissent, not enforce immigration law.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This follows a <strong>clear authoritarian playbook<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Redefine political opposition as a \u201cnational security threat.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Use law enforcement to target activists, immigrants, and critics.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ignore legal process and let courts fight to undo the damage later\u2014if they dare.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>By the time the courts act, <strong>the government has already won.<\/strong> The individual is arrested, detained, or even deported. <strong>The damage is done.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Courts and Congress Must Act\u2014Now<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is a constitutional crisis, and it demands <strong>immediate action<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>The Judiciary Must Rein in Executive Overreach.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Federal courts have the power to <strong>halt unconstitutional arrests<\/strong>, block illegal executive orders, and <strong>demand accountability from ICE and DHS.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Judges must <strong>stop deferring to the executive branch<\/strong> every time \u201cnational security\u201d is invoked without evidence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Congress Must Investigate and Block the Abuse of Power.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Lawmakers must hold <strong>hearings<\/strong> on Khalil\u2019s detention and <strong>demand evidence<\/strong> for his designation as a \u201cthreat.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Congress must <strong>pass legislation limiting the executive branch\u2019s ability to revoke visas or legal status without due process.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>ICE and DHS must be held accountable<\/strong> for constitutional violations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The American People Must Speak Out.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This <strong>isn\u2019t just about one man\u2014it\u2019s about whether the U.S. remains a democracy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>If we allow this to happen <strong>without resistance<\/strong>, it sets a precedent.<\/li>\n<li>First, they come for immigrants. Then, for activists. <strong>Next, for you.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>This Happened to You.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you believe <strong>this is only about immigrants<\/strong>, you are mistaken.<\/p>\n<p>If you believe <strong>this won\u2019t affect you because you\u2019re a citizen<\/strong>, you are mistaken.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>U.S. Constitution does not separate an immigrant from a citizen<\/strong> when it comes to fundamental rights.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mahmoud Khalil represents all of us.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>His unlawful arrest means <strong>your First and Fourth Amendment rights are already gone.<\/strong> The only question now is: <strong>Will you fight to get them back?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udea8 <strong>Contact your representatives. Demand hearings. Speak out. Protest. Flood the streets.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Because <strong>if you stay silent now, you are accepting this as the new normal.<\/strong> And if this becomes the new normal\u2026 America is already lost.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fight back\u2014before it\u2019s too late.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Blatant Violation of the Constitution Two of the most fundamental protections in the U.S. Constitution are: The First Amendment: The right to free speech and political expression. The Fourth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,60,52,65,55,51,54,70,56,66,67,59,68,53,58,61,62,63,49,69,57,64,32],"class_list":["post-1904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-immigration","tag-authoritarianisminamerica","tag-congressmustact","tag-defenddemocracy","tag-demandjustice","tag-dueprocess","tag-fightback","tag-fourthamendment","tag-freespeech","tag-humanrights","tag-ice","tag-immigrationrights","tag-judiciarymustact","tag-nationalsecurityabuse","tag-policestate","tag-protectcivilliberties","tag-ruleoflaw","tag-speakout","tag-stopthepolicestate","tag-thishappenedtoyou","tag-trumpexecutiveorder","tag-unconstitutional","tag-wewillnotbesilenced","tag-resist","post_format-post-format-video"],"_wp_page_template":null,"_form":null,"_mail":null,"_mail_2":null,"_messages":null,"_additional_settings":null,"_locale":null,"_hash":null,"_wp_attached_file":null,"_wp_attachment_metadata":null,"_menu_item_type":null,"_menu_item_menu_item_parent":null,"_menu_item_object_id":null,"_menu_item_object":null,"_menu_item_target":null,"_menu_item_classes":null,"_menu_item_xfn":null,"_menu_item_url":null,"_wp_attachment_context":null,"_thumbnail_id":"1905","newscrunch_views":"1000","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_schema_article_type":null,"_wp_attachment_is_custom_background":null,"_wp_desired_post_slug":null,"_customize_restore_dismissed":null,"_edit_last":"3","_edit_lock":"1743278924:3","newscrunch_site_layout":"","newscrunch_page_sidebar":"sidebar-1","newscrunch_page_left_sidebar":"left-sidebar","_wp_trash_meta_status":null,"_wp_trash_meta_time":null,"newscrunch_post_video_embed":"","_custom_header_image_id":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"4","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>A Blatant Violation of the Constitution - The America Project<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A legal U.S. resident was arrested\u2014no warrant, no crime, no due process. 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Fight back before it\u2019s too late. #ThisHappenedToYou","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/index.php\/2025\/03\/11\/this-happened-to-you-us-becoming-authoritarian-state\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/america-project.org\/index.php\/2025\/03\/11\/this-happened-to-you-us-becoming-authoritarian-state\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/index.php\/2025\/03\/11\/this-happened-to-you-us-becoming-authoritarian-state\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tn32.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tn32.jpg","width":810,"height":460,"caption":"ICE agents violate civil rights, execute government overreach"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/index.php\/2025\/03\/11\/this-happened-to-you-us-becoming-authoritarian-state\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Blatant Violation of the Constitution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/","name":"The America Project","description":"Remember who we are","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/#organization","name":"The America Project","url":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-substack_email_header.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-substack_email_header.png","width":1100,"height":220,"caption":"The America Project"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/#\/schema\/person\/363f680ae6fb9142ec22e8a5752492ba","name":"Matt Bennett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f5c571cdf31d01273816cc4c05797e47ab47786b3cad5c585be3fd5163266ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f5c571cdf31d01273816cc4c05797e47ab47786b3cad5c585be3fd5163266ce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Matt Bennett"},"url":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/index.php\/author\/matt-b\/"}]}},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tn32.jpg",810,460,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tn32-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tn32-300x170.jpg",300,170,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tn32-768x436.jpg",640,363,true],"large":["https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tn32.jpg",640,363,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tn32.jpg",810,460,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/america-project.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tn32.jpg",810,460,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Matt Bennett","author_link":"https:\/\/america-project.org\/index.php\/author\/matt-b\/"},"uagb_comment_info":83,"uagb_excerpt":"A Blatant Violation of the Constitution Two of the most fundamental protections in the U.S. Constitution are: The First Amendment: The right to free speech and political expression. 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