Via @laborontheline and endorsed by the Labor for Palestine National Network: Labor unions call for the immediate release of Rumeysa Ozturk and all other students and workers abducted by ICE and demand an end to the repression of student activists. An injury to one is an injury to all! 🚨🚨
Sign-on: bit.ly/labor-against-repression
Full text here and below:
FREE RUMEYSA OZTURK, MAHMOUD KHALIL, AND ALL STUDENTS ABDUCTED BY ICE!
On the evening of March 25, Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate worker at Tufts University and a member of SEIU 509 was abducted by federal immigration authorities near her off-campus apartment. Rumeysa’s arrest is the latest in an egregious series of abductions and targeting of international students and workers, including Mahmoud Khalil, Dr. Badar Khan Suri, Ranjani Srinivasan, and others. Like others, Rumeysa was targeted for deportation on the basis of her free speech in support of the Palestinian people. Now, in a further escalation, Marco Rubio has asserted that he has revoked over 300 visas and will revoke the visas of all student “activists.”
Freedom of speech is a basic democratic right that is foundational to our society. These essential rights and First Amendment protections were secured through struggle, in which the labor movement has played a pivotal role. The Trump administration is now targeting students, academics and workers for protected free speech activity under the false pretense of fighting anti-semitism. In the midst of these attacks, federal funding is being used to extort universities to crack down even further on free speech and the student movement for Palestine.
These attacks on international students and workers are a clear attempt to scare people from taking collective action and exercising their rights. In doing so, they threaten the ability for all working people to fight against injustice and for a better future. Many unions last year stood up in solidarity with Palestine and against attacks on free speech related to Palestine. This is another moment to stand strong with each other in the face of repression.
We strongly condemn the abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk and all other targeted students and workers and call for their immediate release. We demand an end to the repression of student activists. We will not back down in the face of this repression. An injury to one is an injury to all!
Signed by,
UAW 4811 at the University of California
Student Workers of Columbia – UAW 2710
UAW Local 4121 – Academic Workers at the University of Washington
UE 256 – MIT Graduate Student Union
United Graduate Workers of UNM (UE-1466)
GEO-UAW 2322 at UMass Amherst
Graduate Employees of Northeastern University – UAW
AFT Local 6516, the Graduate Labor Organization at Brown University
Graduate Employee Organization – UMass Lowell
GOLD-UE 261 Executive Board at Dartmouth
UE Local 896 – COGS at University of Iowa
UE Local 1103 Graduate Students United at UChicago Executive Board
UE Local 300 – Cornell Graduate Students United Bargaining Committee
Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, AFT Local 3544 at University of Oregon
UMaine Graduate Workers Union – UAW
TRU UE 197 Central Coordinating Committee at Johns Hopkins University
Stanford Graduate Workers Union UE-Local 1043
EmoryUnite! (SEIU Workers United Southern Region Local 29)
University of Maryland Graduate Labor Union (UAW)
Graduate Workers United UE Local 1498 at New Mexico State University
University of Minnesota Graduate Labor Union-UE Local 1105 Executive Board
Local 33-UNITE HERE Executive Board at Yale
NUGW-UE Local 1122 Executive Board at Northwestern
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