Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley has accused the Donald Trump administration of “terrorising students to silence dissent.”
Pressley made this claim in a post on X, where she issued a strongly worded defence of Turkish graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk.
Ozturk was detained by immigration authorities in Massachusetts over her advocacy for Palestinian rights.
She was whisked away by plainclothed, masked agents in the streets.
Pressley described the incident, which was captured on video, as a “kidnapping.”
Several international students, including Ozturk, have been arrested and had their visas revoked due to their activism against Israel’s war on Gaza.
“This administration is terrorising students to silence dissent because that’s what a dictator does.
“And the only reason she was kidnapped is because she holds a dissenting political view, different from Donald Trump’s. That’s it.
“This should be a five-alarm fire for anyone who cares about free speech and our democracy—regardless of your political party, ideology, or opinion on Israel, Palestine, or any other issue,” Pressley wrote in a social media post.
The Donald Trump administration on Friday informed Congress that it would cut nearly all remaining jobs at the US Agency for International Development, USAID, and shut down the agency.
USAID staff were informed in an internal memo that all roles not required by law would be terminated in July and September.
The memo was sent to staff by the agency’s acting deputy administrator, Jeremy Lewin, who is also a member of Elon Musk’s job-cutting Department of Government Efficiency.
The notice came on the same day that a powerful earthquake struck Thailand and Myanmar, toppling buildings and causing numerous fatalities.
USAID has previously played a major role in coordinating disaster relief efforts.
In the memo, Lewin confirmed that all agency personnel worldwide would receive emails informing them that their jobs were being eliminated.
