See coverage of our work in support the first amendment rights of student protestors who have been targeted by the State AG because of their viewpoints favoring divestment from Israel at the University of Michigan, a stop to the genocide in Gaza, and advocating for Palestinian human rights.
CNN, The students that were targeted appear to be those that UM officials believe are most active in on-campus protests - protests that have been loud at times…but which in no way can be characterized as violent or causing significant vandalism,” [John] Philo [from the Sugar Law Center] said. “Other than a shared viewpoint concerning Palestine, a real question exists as to why student campus protestors are being targeted or is that the point - because they are expressing that viewpoint on UM’s campus.”
Michigan Public Radio, “Liz Jacob, a staff attorney at Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, represents the Tahrir Coalition alongside other pro-Palestinian advocacy groups at U of M. She said she got some panicked phone calls Wednesday morning at about 7 a.m. from activists who were woken up by officers at their doorstep.”
Detroit Free Press, "Everyone who was raided has taken part in protest and has some relationship to the University of Michigan," said Liz Jacob, an attorney with the Sugar Law Center in Detroit, which is representing several protesters who say they've been effectively banned from campus. "We are totally convinced that, but for their viewpoints, these students would not have been targeted."
MetroTimes, “John Philo, an attorney with the Sugar Law Center, says the raids were “very clearly intended to influence the content of debate on the University of Michigan campus,” noting that the students targeted were academically successful and had no criminal histories.”
Common Dreams, “Federal and local law enforcement officers smashed their way into the Michigan homes of pro-Palestine student organizers on Wednesday in what the state attorney general's office said was a vandalism probe—but critics called an attack on dissent against Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza"
Fox 2, "There’s no question it took everybody by surprise, the scale of it took people by surprise," said John Philo, an attorney. "They’ve clearly been following the students for a period of time." He says each of the raids conducted targeted the homes of local supporters who had protested at the University of Michigan … "That is breathtaking, shocking and appalling, that acts of vandalism at least on the scale that’s occured at the University of Michigan campus, are no more than misdemeanors, are drawing out federal police, the state attorney general is coordinating with Trump’s administration's FBI, the state troopers are there, for something they’re [the State AG] calling acts of vandalism."