Karishma Manzur, Ph.D. is a science writer living in Exeter. She volunteers with various groups, including the New Hampshire Coalition for a Just Peace in the Middle East, which includes state chapters of Veterans for Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, Peace Action and several other organizations.

On March 25, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Ph.D. student at Tufts University, was walking near her apartment building when she was surrounded by six masked men and women who appeared to be armed. They handcuffed Rumeysa and drove away with her in unmarked cars. There is a video of Rumeysa’s abduction in broad daylight, a few blocks from the campus.

The video captures a bystander asking the group who they were and why they were hiding their faces, prompting a person in the group to identify themselves as police. They never produced an arrest warrant and are presumed to be members of I.C.E.

A New York Times article mentions that Rumeysa was one of several authors of an opinion essay published in the Tufts student newspaper that was critical of university leaders. Rumeysa was sympathetic to the oppressed Palestinian people and was most likely targeted for this reason.

Despite a federal court order to keep Rumeysa in Massachusetts, she has been moved to a privately-owned, for-profit detention facility in Louisiana.

Rumeysa’s abduction is similar to the case of the Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was abducted on March 8. We must understand that Rümeysa and Mahmoud are being detained without having been charged with or accused of any crimes.

We should be outraged that Rumeysa, Mahmoud and several other students and professors have been targeted in a coordinated campaign. The Canary Mission is a blacklisting and doxxing operation that lists the names and photos of students, professors, professionals and organizations critical of the Israeli government’s policies, including Mahmoud and Rumeysa.

All of us, regardless of our political ideologies, should find these cases of abduction, detention and deportation chilling. It does not matter what our views are on Israel and Palestine. The First Amendment protects Free Speech for everyone within the boundaries of the United States, regardless of immigration status. In addition, all defendants have the right to know the charges against them and to defend themselves in a court of law. This is due process. The actions by the current administration are blatant attacks on the U.S. Constitution in support of a foreign government.

On March 27, Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA-08) posted a video message stating, “Rumeysa Ozturk was legally present with a legitimate student visa studying at Tufts University. She was bundled off without a hearing 1700 miles away to Louisiana in an I.C.E. detention facility. I am engaging with the I.C.E. leadership to try to have her return immediately to Massachusetts to resume her studies. There have been no charges against her, yet she has been abducted not far from the campus… This is reminiscent of 1939 Occupied Poland when people got bundled off. In those days, it was Jews being bundled off by the Nazis. This is not right. This is not protecting us from criminals or gang members. This is just abducting innocent students who have come here for learning.”

The students and professors being targeted are indeed the ‘canary in the coal mine.’ At present, the Trump administration is asserting unlimited authority to silence dissent across the country. These ‘test cases’ are setting a dangerous precedent. If the Trump administration succeeds with abducting innocents, holding political prisoners and expelling visa holders and permanent residents for their stances against the actions of a foreign government, the administration will be empowered to silence other dissenters, including U.S. citizens. 

All of us should be shocked and outraged that our government is falsely equating criticism of the Israeli government with terrorism and antisemitism and kidnapping people based on their political opinions. Jewish Voice for Peace has explained that, “As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads... Many of us are the descendants of people who resisted European fascism and far too many of our ancestors lost their lives in that struggle… The Trump regime platforms Nazis, white supremacists and Christian nationalists. It is endangering Jewish people and using the guise of fighting antisemitism to dismantle our constitutionally protected rights to free speech and dissent.”

All of us in New Hampshire must speak up against the current administration’s violations of the U.S. Constitution, attacks on the Judicial branch, its complicity in the atrocities against Palestinians and its repressive efforts against people who support Palestinians. We must contact our governor, attorney general, senators and representatives and ask them to immediately take action to stop this disturbing tactic of ambushing and kidnapping law-abiding individuals for their political views.

These authoritarian tactics are not in service of public safety, Instead, they remind us of the practices of the old Russian KGB.