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Charging The US Government With Genocide Before The Inter-American Commission On Human Rights

We stand here today, as Americans who are fed up with the way the United States government has spent our tax dollars. While several programs across housing, education, and healthcare are gutted, our politicians think the better use of that money should be going towards killing children, massacring families, and leveling churches, schools and hospitals. Instead of taking care of our veterans, we are sending more of our soldiers to fight a population of civilians, putting them in the crosshairs of Israel’s indiscriminate bombing, and giving them a lifetime of PTSD that our government will refuse to treat.

Trump Is Targeting Sanctuary Cities

In late April, the White House issued yet another executive order threatening to withhold federal funds from all “sanctuary” jurisdictions, calling their lack of cooperation with federal immigration authorities “a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law.” The executive order directs the Department of Justice, attorney general and Secretary of Homeland Security to provide a list of all sanctuary cities in order to suspend or terminate federal funding, including grants and contracts. Earlier this year, Trump’s Department of Justice directed federal prosecutors to investigate and criminally charge public officials who do not comply with federal immigration enforcement.

From Permanent Precarity To Permanent Power

In Florida, the carceral system coerces workers with records into low-wage, precarious jobs by tying their freedom to employment. Background checks bar them from stable work, leaving only the jobs others avoid, quit, or fight to change. At the same time, probation agreements make employment and the payment of court fines and fees a condition of release. Workers with records are destabilized by an economic system that withholds continuity, protections and dignity by design. No other institution — not schools, employers or prisons — invests in the leadership potential of workers with records.

Federal Judge Orders Release Of Palestinian Student Mohsen Mahdawi

Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi is free on bail after a federal judge in Vermont ordered his release. It’s the first order mandating the release of a student detained by the Trump administration. The New York Times called his release “a defeat” for the administration’s “widening crackdown against student protesters.” “The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime,” said Judge Geoffrey Crawford at an April 30 hearing. “Mr. Mahdawi, I will order you released.” Crawford also compared Trump’s crackdown to the Red Scare and said that period of history wasn’t one that people should be proud of.

Iraqi MP Files Lawsuit Against Syrian President Over ‘Terrorist’ Past

Iraqi Member of Parliament Alaa al-Haidari has filed a lawsuit with the Iraqi Public Prosecution against the new Syrian President, Ahmad al-Sharaa, Shafaq News reported on 29 April. In a video statement from the Supreme Judicial Council building, Haidari said, “I filed the complaint against the terrorist Julani, known as Ahmad al-Sharaa,” who “was part of ISIS organizations in Iraqi territory.” This comes as the Syrian President received an official invitation from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on 27 April to attend the Arab League Summit scheduled to be held next month in the capital, Baghdad.

FBI Arrests Judge Who Blocked ICE From Detaining Immigrant

On Friday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on X that the FBI had arrested a state judge in Wisconsin, allegedly over her efforts to keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents out of her courtroom while she was adjudicating a case involving an immigrant they were targeting. Patel bragged about the arrest on social media, then deleted the post, which claimed there was evidence of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan “obstructing an immigration arrest operation” on April 18. “We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be,” Patel wrote.

Apache Stronghold Makes Emergency Appeal To Save Oak Flat

A coalition of Western Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies asked a federal court late yesterday to stop the U.S. government from handing over their sacred site at Oak Flat to a multinational mining giant as early as June 16, 2025. In Apache Stronghold v. United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year refused to stop the federal government from transferring Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever. The emergency appeal comes after the government announced last week it will forge ahead with the transfer even though the case is currently under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Denies Mumia Abu Jamal’s Appeal

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - On March 26, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal permission to appeal a September 2024 Pennsylvania Superior Court denial of his latest petition to reverse his 1982 conviction. The Supreme Court ruling ends Mumia’s state court challenge at this time. Mumia’s sixth petition was based on credible new evidence of prosecutorial misconduct — including Brady violations based on incentives given to the state’s key witnesses Cynthia White and Robert Chobert to give false testimony. The new evidence, found buried in storage boxes in a remote area of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office and turned over to Mumia’s lawyers in December 2021 also included evidence of racial bias in jury selection, a Batson violation.

If Fear Is The Goal, Then Solidarity Is The Antidote

Many of us are angsting these days about the mounting repression coming from the White House.  In my community, many are worried about rumors of possible executive orders targeting climate and other nonprofit groups. The concern is well-founded. As Bloomberg reports, these executive orders — expected on Earth Day — would try to strip some groups of their tax exempt status, similar to the threats the president has made to Harvard. I’m now thinking about the many teachers, students, nonprofit staff, lawyers, university staff and faculty and beyond who are worried, concerned and uncertain about what is coming.

Tallahassee Demands Release Of US Citizen Illegally Detained By ICE

Tallahassee, FL – On Thursday, April 16, about 75 community members rallied at the Leon County Jail to demand the immediate release of Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a U.S. citizen illegally detained by ICE. The emergency mobilization was called by the Tallahassee Immigrant Rights Alliance (TIRA). Lopez-Gomez, who lives in Georgia and works in Tallahassee, was detained by Florida Highway Patrol during a traffic stop after crossing state lines Wednesday morning. Despite presenting his U.S. birth certificate to the court, ICE formally requested that Lopez-Gomez be held in jail for pickup and processing, superseding Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans’s assessment that the birth certificate was in fact legitimate.

Failing To Rise To The Constitutional Crisis

As the Trump administration openly defies court orders to return a man wrongfully deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador, some American outlets are underplaying the significance of this constitutional crisis. In a unanimous decision the Supreme Court “declined to block a lower court’s order to ‘facilitate’ bringing back Kilmar Ábrego García,” a Salvadoran who had legal protections in the United States and was wrongfully sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT (BBC, 4/11/25). The White House is not complying (Democracy Docket, 4/14/25). “The federal courts have no authority to direct the executive branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way, or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner,” Trump’s Justice Department insists (CNN, 4/15/25). Fox News (4/16/25) said of Attorney General Pam Bondi: “Bondi Defiant, Says Ábrego García Will Stay in El Salvador ‘End of the Story.’”

Trump Administration Ordered To Unfreeze Climate, Infrastructure Funds

A federal judge has ordered the release of billions of dollars in funds for climate and infrastructure projects that had been paused by five federal government agencies. The temporary, nationwide injunction instructs the Trump administration to release the funding from two Biden-era initiatives while a lawsuit brought by environmental nonprofits proceeds. “Today’s ruling marks a crucial victory for the rule of law and ensures these vital resources will flow to the people and projects Congress intended to support,” said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, the legal group representing the plaintiffs, in a press release from the group.

Chevron Ordered To Pay More Than $740 Million To Restore Coast

Pointe a la Hache, LA. — Oil company Chevron must pay $744.6 million to restore damage it caused to southeast Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, a jury ruled on Friday following a landmark trial more than a decade in the making. The case was the first of dozens of pending lawsuits to reach trial in Louisiana against the world’s leading oil companies for their role in accelerating land loss along the state’s rapidly disappearing coast. The verdict – which Chevron says it will appeal – could set a precedent leaving other oil and gas firms on the hook for billions of dollars in damages tied to land loss and environmental degradation.

Mahmoud Khalil’s Immigration Status Will Be Determined Friday

Mahmoud Khalil’s immigration hearings began in Louisiana on April 8. Supporters who tried to observe the proceedings virtually were not allowed in. ABC News reported that during this hearing, Judge Jamee Comans determined that the Trump administration has 24 hours to provide evidence of allegations they’ve made to justify Khalil’s deportation. The administration has made bogus claims that Khalil poses a threat to national security. Once Khalil’s team has reviewed and responded to whatever information the Trump administration provides, Comans will decide at another hearing this Friday if Khalil can stay in the United States.

Momodou Taal, Who Sued Trump, Voluntarily Leaves The Country

Momodou Taal, a pro-Palestinian activist and international Ph.D student, announced his decision to leave the country on Monday — ending a weeks-long struggle with the federal government that began when he sued the Trump administration. Soon after Taal announced his decision on X and Instagram, his lawyers withdrew his lawsuit in federal court. Taal first made national news when he, alongside Sriram Parasurama, a Ph.D. student in plant sciences, and Prof. Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, literatures in English, sued the Trump administration for allegedly violating their First and Fifth Amendment rights.

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Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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