Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) referred to as the arrest of Tufts College graduate pupil Rumeysa Ozturk “chilling,” as he warned of additional democratic backsliding within the U.S.
In an interview Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Murphy was requested to answer video footage of Ozturk, a Turkish nationwide on a pupil visa, being detained by six masked brokers from the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) late Tuesday.
The video exhibits the brokers surrounding Ozturk, who yelled as they took her cellphone, positioned her in handcuffs and escorted her away.
“The video is really chilling, and this should matter to every single American,” Murphy mentioned in response.
The Connecticut Democrat additionally expressed concern over the Trump administration invoking the Alien Enemies Act to justify President Trump’s push to deport international nationals, saying the president already can “remove from this country people who pose a threat to the nation, people who have engaged in criminal behavior or who have coordinated with terrorist groups.”
“He has that power under existing law to remove from the country noncitizens,” Murphy continued. “So, he doesn’t need this authority.”
Murphy mentioned it seems the president is making an attempt to “put America on war footing,” noting the act has solely been exercised 3 times within the nation’s historical past: throughout the Warfare of 1812, throughout World Warfare I and through World Warfare II.
“It is a wartime authority, and what you really worry about is the president continuing to move forward in exercising wartime powers in order to suspend additional elements of the Constitution,” the lawmaker added.
Murphy additionally famous Trump has beforehand expressed curiosity within the Revolt Act, which might put the navy in command of on a regular basis regulation enforcement within the nation. The New England Democrat warned Trump could possibly be placing the nation on observe towards “a kind of quasi-martial law.”
“You are watching, along multiple channels, this massive slide away from democracy and democratic norms,” he instructed MSNBC.
“And so that video is chilling because, A, the president doesn’t need that act to be able to remove a threat, but, B, it speaks to his willingness to try to put America in a kind of quasi-martial law that ultimately will come to be a threat, not just to green card holders, but to American citizens as well,” Murphy mentioned.
The lawmaker added, “So it’s a extremely worrying time, and all people in America ought to care what’s occurring.”
Homeland Safety officers confirmed Ozturk’s detention and termination of her pupil visa, in an announcement to The Related Press, saying “investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.”
“A visa is a privilege, not a right,” the statement continued. “Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is common sense security.”
The AP reported Ozturk was considered one of 4 college students who wrote an op-ed final 12 months within the Tufts pupil newspaper criticizing the college’s response to calls for that it “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and divest from firms with ties to Israel.
That was Ozturk’s solely identified instance of “anti-Israel activism” cited by Canary Mission, a controversial group that tracks college students who it says “promote hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”
Ozturk’s buddies instructed the AP she was not in any other case carefully concerned in anti-Israel protests final 12 months. Her lawyer filed a petition in federal courtroom in Boston, saying she was detained with out rationalization.
