The following statement is from Dave Foley, President of the SEIU MA State Council and of SEIU Local 509, on behalf of the Delegates of the Council from SEIU Locals 509, 1199, 32BJ, 888, 1957CIR, and 3FO, representing 120,000 members in health and human services, property services, public service, and higher education.
“We join in solidarity with all supporters of free speech and immigrant rights in denouncing federal immigration authorities’ detention of Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts and a member of SEIU Local 509. The detention of Ms. Ozturk is part of Homeland Security’s despicable effort to stifle speech by immigrants who express views that Donald Trump and his surrogates simply don’t like.
It is no coincidence that the law invoked to justify the attempted deportation of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, whose detainment began this assault, dates from 1952, during the height of McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare. In that disgraced era, holding opinions unpopular with the nation’s ruling Republican majority cost thousands of law-abiding Americans their reputations and careers.
Free speech and the right to protest are the very foundation upon which the labor movement was built. Using detention and the threat of deportation as tactics to target activists is an attempt to deter us from advocating for a better world. It is intended to send a clear and chilling message that anyone who challenges injustice will be met with retribution. When a student, worker, or any member of our community is punished for exercising their rights, we all suffer, and standing up against these tactics is critical to the strength and integrity of any social movement.
This attack puts us further down a path where anyone could be prevented from speaking if the Trump administration strips them of their right to stay in this country. It is also an extension of existing attacks on immigrant communities, including attempts to dismantle Temporary Protected Status and other protections. We call on the courts to end this persecution, and for our communities, elected officials, school administrators, and others to join us in the streets to protest this inhumane attempt to limit the protections that are enshrined in the First Amendment.”
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The following statement is from Dave Foley, President of the SEIU MA State Council and of SEIU Local 509, on behalf of the Delegates of the Council from SEIU Locals 509, 1199, 32BJ, 888, 1957CIR, and 3FO, representing 120,000 members in health and human services, property services, public service, and higher education.
“We join in solidarity with all supporters of free speech and immigrant rights in denouncing federal immigration authorities’ detention of Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts and a member of SEIU Local 509. The detention of Ms. Ozturk is part of Homeland Security’s despicable effort to stifle speech by immigrants who express views that Donald Trump and his surrogates simply don’t like.
It is no coincidence that the law invoked to justify the attempted deportation of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, whose detainment began this assault, dates from 1952, during the height of McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare. In that disgraced era, holding opinions unpopular with the nation’s ruling Republican majority cost thousands of law-abiding Americans their reputations and careers.
Free speech and the right to protest are the very foundation upon which the labor movement was built. Using detention and the threat of deportation as tactics to target activists is an attempt to deter us from advocating for a better world. It is intended to send a clear and chilling message that anyone who challenges injustice will be met with retribution. When a student, worker, or any member of our community is punished for exercising their rights, we all suffer, and standing up against these tactics is critical to the strength and integrity of any social movement.
This attack puts us further down a path where anyone could be prevented from speaking if the Trump administration strips them of their right to stay in this country. It is also an extension of existing attacks on immigrant communities, including attempts to dismantle Temporary Protected Status and other protections. We call on the courts to end this persecution, and for our communities, elected officials, school administrators, and others to join us in the streets to protest this inhumane attempt to limit the protections that are enshrined in the First Amendment.”
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