The termination emails were riddled w/mistakes — w/employees’ names, the month of April & even the institute’s title misspelled in places — a telling sign of the rushed & haphazard nature of the operation….

By Saturday morning, the terminated #USIP headquarters staff were already discussing filing a class-action lawsuit & were debating whether to sign their termination documents.

In the latest action, employees were instructed to sign a 4-pg letter ordering them to return all #USIP property while agreeing to forgo all future claims against the institute. It ordered them not to disclose any terms of the agreement in exchange for 1 month of #HealthInsurance & a monthly stipend paid for an unspecified period. Those who refuse to sign, the letter said, will lose all #benefits as of Monday.

#ColumbiaUniversity changed its president on Friday evening, one week after the university bowed to a series of demands from the #Trump admin, which had moved to withhold $400M in essential federal funding.

The abrupt exit of Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, made way for the university’s 3rd leader since Aug: Claire Shipman, the co-chair of the university’s board of trustees.

#Immigration ofcls also detained #Palestinian activist & #Columbia graduate #MahmoudKhalil – a #GreenCard holder – earlier this month in front of his pregnant wife, Noor, a US citizen. Other students detained by immigration ofcls include #BadarSuri, an Indian postdoctoral fellow at #Georgetown University, after #DHS accused him of having ties to Hamas.

In recent wks, federal authorities have detained a handful of other #university #students & #researchers – including #GreenCard holders – who have expressed #Palestinian solidarity amid #Israel’s deadly war on #Gaza. Earlier this week, 30-yr-old #RumeysaOzturk, a Turkish doctoral student at #Tufts University, was detained by masked federal ofcls in dramatic footage that has caused widespread outrage.

Also earlier this month, #Canada citizen #JasmineMooney was detained by US authorities & was held by #ICE for 2 weeks before being released. In another case, a tourist from #Germany, 29-yr-old tattoo artist #JessicaBrösche, spent 6 weeks in #detention including 8 days in #solitary confinement after she was arrested at the Mexican border on 18 Feb.

We had no idea initially what had happened to her since she was unable to send any messages or make any calls upon detention. She was moved to a facility in Vermont at first & then #Louisiana where she is now. Where she is now is a #jail that has space rented by #ICE & is kept in a room with over 80 other female detainees,” Anderson posted.

Other elite #law firms have been hit w/similar sanctions, leaving them to choose whether to fight the orders or cut a *deal* w/ #Trump to remove the restrictions, even as a judge has already blocked one of the orders because it is likely to be unlawful.

The order said Trump was in part punishing #WilmerHale for the firm’s connections to #Mueller, who led an inquiry that the order described as “one of the most partisan investigations in American history.”

A senior #State Dept ofcl called the demonstrators it's targeting "Hamasniks" — people the government claims have shown support for the terror group.

More than 300 foreign students have had their #StudentVisas revoked in the 3 weeks "Catch & Revoke" has been in operation, the ofcl said. There are 1.5 million #student #visa-holders nationwide.

"Everyone is fair game," the ofcl said.

…Today, we are witnessing the birth of a new #DualState. The #US has long had a normative state. That system was always imperfect. Our #criminal #justice system, for example, sweeps in far too many people, for far too little security in exchange. Even so, it is recognizably part of the normative state.

What the #Trump administration & its allies are trying to build now, however, is not.

More from Axios:

#ColumbiaUniversity agreed to some of the #Trump admin's demands after some $400 million in federal grants & contracts were pulled from the university over allegations of antisemitism, per a university memo shared Friday.

#law #Constitution #CivilRights #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #FreedomOfAssembly #ThoughtPolice #ViewPointDiscrimination #dissent #NaziState #MafiaState
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/columbia-trump-federal-funding-protests

Law firm #PaulWeiss defends deal with #Trump as lawyers sound alarm

Powerful Wall Street law firm Paul,Weiss faced heavy criticism on Friday over an *agreement* it struck w/the White House to escape an #ExecutiveOrder imperiling its business, even as some lawyers said the firm faced few other options.

#law #USpol #MafiaState #QuidProQuo #QuidProBono
https://www.reuters.com/legal/trumps-deal-with-law-firm-paul-weiss-sparks-alarm-among-lawyers-2025-03-21/