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Trump Bombs Yemen After Houthis Revive Blockade on Israeli Ships

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

AFPTV footage shows smoke plumes rising after the U.S. bombed Houthi targets in Sanaa, Yemen on March 15, 2025. (Photo: Osama Abdulrahman/AFP via Getty Images)

“U.S. officials are escalating deadly attacks on one of the poorest and most devastated nations in the Middle East, while recklessly pushing the U.S. toward a wider regional war with Iran,” said one peace group.

This is a developing news story… Please check back for possible updates.

U.S. President Donald Trumpannounced Saturday that he had ordered the military to “launch decisive and powerful” action against the Houthis in war-torn Yemen, a glaring contradiction of what critics have called the Republican’s “anti-war charade.”

The U.S. bombing follows Trump redesignating the Houthis—also known as Ansar Allah—as a terrorist organization shortly after returning to office in January and comes just days after the group renewed a blockade on Israeli ships.

Shuaib Almosawa reported earlier this week for Drop Site News that “the military spokesperson for the Houthi-led government in Yemen on Tuesday announced the resumption of the naval blockade targeting Israeli ships traversing Yemen’s waterways, following the expiration of its deadline for Israel to allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip.”

“In a televised statement broadcast by Almasirah TV channel, Houthi spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said that the blockade on Israeli ships now covers Yemen’s waterways in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait,” according to Almosawa, a freelance journalist based in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Trump’s lengthy Saturday post on his Truth Social platform did not explicitly mention Israel or Gaza. He said in part that “funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at U.S. aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies. These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk.”

Almosawa reported Saturday that at least nine civilians have been killed in Trump’s new bombing campaign.

According toThe Associated Press:

The Houthi media office said the U.S. strikes hit “a residential neighborhood” in Sanaa’s northern district of Shouab. Sanaa residents said at least four airstrikes rocked the Eastern Geraf neighborhood in Shouab district, terrifying women and children in the area.

“The explosions were very strong,” said Abdallah al-Alffi. “It was like an earthquake.”

The United States, Israel, and Britain have previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen. Israel’s military declined to comment.

Trump noted the bombings under former U.S. President Joe Biden, saying Saturday that his predecessor’s “response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going.”

The U.S.-based peace group CodePink called out another part of Trump’s post, saying that he “claimed that the Houthis have waged an ‘unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism’ against America and other ships, aircraft, and drones. However, he conveniently ignores critical context behind these actions. The Houthis’ attacks on foreign cargo ships began in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, aimed at deterring the continuation of Israel’s ongoing plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine.”

“This campaign ceased when a cease-fire was finally put in place, only to resume due to Israel’s ongoing violations of the cease-fire agreement,” CodePink continued, noting Israeli strikes that just reportedly killed aid workers and journalists in Gaza. “Instead of confronting the root causes of this violence, U.S. officials are escalating deadly attacks on one of the poorest and most devastated nations in the Middle East, while recklessly pushing the U.S. toward a wider regional war with Iran.”

“CodePink and its allies demand an immediate halt to U.S. military intervention in Yemen and across the Middle East,” the group concluded. “We call on the government to prioritize peace and justice by immediately ending all military aid and funds to Israel and holding Israel accountable for breaking the cease-fire.”

Members of Congress across the political spectrum have a history of criticizing U.S. bombings of Yemen throughout its decadelong civil war as illegal. Justin Amash, a libertarian former Michigan congressman, slammed the Saturday strikes on social media.

“I’ll say it again. It is unconstitutional for President Trump to engage in acts of war in Yemen,” Amash explained. “It doesn’t matter how appropriate you think it is for the U.S. to take on Houthis or terrorists or anyone. Congress has not authorized war in Yemen. Engaging in war there is unlawful.”

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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‘This Is the Fascist Playbook’: Arrest of Mahmoud Khalil Shows Depths of Trump Threat

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Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Mahmoud Khalil was pictured speaking to the press during a briefing organized by pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University on June 1, 2024. (Photo: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Arresting and threatening to deport students because of their participation in political protest is the kind of action one ordinarily associates with the world’s most repressive regimes.”

Civil rights organizations, legal experts, and lawmakers were among the chorus voicing alarm Sunday and into Monday over the dire implications of the Trump administration’s brazen arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian rights organizer who helped lead Columbia University student protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza.

“The Trump administration’s outrageous detention of Mahmoud is designed to instill terror in students speaking out for Palestinian freedom and immigrant communities,” said Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which has helped organize nationwide demonstrations against Israel’s catastrophic war on the Palestinian enclave.

“This is the fascist playbook,” the group added. “We all must fiercely reject it, and universities must start protecting its students.”

Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident with a green card, was arrested on Saturday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who stormed his university-owned apartment in Manhattan. Khalil’s attorney told The Associated Press that the ICE agents also threatened to arrest his pregnant wife, an American citizen.

As of Monday morning, Khalil—an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin—was being held in an ICE facility in Louisiana, and the Trump administration is moving to revoke his green card.

While the State Department CAN revoke *visas* with very little legal process involved, stripping someone of a green card is done by DHS (not the State Department) and requires filing formal charges alleging a violation of immigration law and a removal hearing in front of an immigration judge.

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) 2025-03-09T23:05:27.133Z

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said Sunday that Khalil’s arrest was carried out “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism.”

But JVP and other advocacy groups warned that the administration’s purported crackdown on antisemitism is a pretext for a dangerous assault on civil liberties, including those of Palestinian rights advocates.

“We are not fooled by the Trump administration’s claims that this blatantly unconstitutional and authoritarian attack is somehow in the name of Jewish safety,” said JVP. “Deporting anti-war students who are trying to end genocide and silencing political speech endangers all of us. We will not be divided.”

“The unlawful detention of Mr. Khalil reeks of McCarthyism. It’s clear that the Trump administration is selectively punishing Mr. Khalil for expressing views that aren’t MAGA-approved.”

Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement that “arresting and threatening to deport students because of their participation in political protest is the kind of action one ordinarily associates with the world’s most repressive regimes.”

“It’s genuinely shocking that this appears to be what’s going on right here,” Jaffer added. “Universities must recognize that these actions pose an existential threat to academic life itself. They must make clear, through action, that they will not sit on the sidelines as the Trump administration terrorizes students and faculty alike and runs roughshod over individual rights and the rule of law.”

Khalil’s arrest came days after Trump threatened to imprison students engaged in what he described as “illegal protests.” AP reported that “Khalil’s arrest is the first publicly known deportation effort under Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined protests against the war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring.”

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement Sunday that “the Trump administration’s detention of Mahmoud Khalil—a green card holder studying in this country legally—is targeted, retaliatory, and an extreme attack on his First Amendment rights.”

“The unlawful detention of Mr. Khalil reeks of McCarthyism. It’s clear that the Trump administration is selectively punishing Mr. Khalil for expressing views that aren’t MAGA-approved—which is a frightening escalation of Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestine speech, and an aggressive abuse of immigration law,” Lieberman added. “Ripping a student from their home, challenging their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint will chill student speech and advocacy across campus. Political speech should never be a basis of punishment, or lead to deportation.”

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Second Federal Judge Blocks Unlawful Trump Order to End Birthright Citizenship by Fiat

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Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A baby born in the U.S. to a Guatemalan asylum seeker is seen on April 20, 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut.(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

“Today, virtually every baby born on U.S. soil is a citizen upon birth,” said Judge Deborah Boardman. “That law and tradition will remain the status quo pending the resolution of this case.”

Ruling on one of at least nine legal challenges that have been filed against U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, a federal judge on Wednesday said she would not allow the district court she presides over to “be the first” in the country to endorse Trump’s erroneous interpretation of the 14th Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland found that Trump’s executive order, signed the day he took office last month, “runs counter to our nation’s 250-year history of citizenship by birth.”

In the 1898 U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the judge noted, the high court “resoundingly rejected the president’s interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment.”

In his executive order, Trump claimed the amendment “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States” and has excluded people born on U.S. soil to parents who don’t have permanent legal status.

The directive was set to take effect on February 19, with all babies born after that date to undocumented immigrants or those with temporary status rendered ineligible for citizenship documents.

The lawsuit was filed by two immigrant rights groups, CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, on behalf of five pregnant women who do not have permanent legal status.

The groups argued that the order would “throw into doubt” the status of thousands of children across the country.

“Today, virtually every baby born on U.S. soil is a citizen upon birth,” said Boardman. “That is the law and tradition of our country. That law and tradition will remain the status quo pending the resolution of this case.”

“I should be worried about the health of my child. I should be thinking about that primarily, and instead my husband and I are stressed, we’re anxious and we’re depressed about the reality that my child may not be able to become a U.S. citizen.”

One plaintiff, a physician from Venezuela who was identified as Monica in the lawsuit, said she feared her child would be born stateless.

“I’m 12 weeks pregnant,” said Monica. “I should be worried about the health of my child. I should be thinking about that primarily, and instead my husband and I are stressed, we’re anxious and we’re depressed about the reality that my child may not be able to become a U.S. citizen.”

The judge added that the executive order was “likely to be found unconstitutional” and said the Trump administration hadn’t proved it would be harmed by a preliminary injunction.

Boardman is the second federal judge to block Trump’s executive order. Nearly two dozen Democratic state attorneys general, the American Civil Liberties Union, and at least one county have also filed legal challenges.

Days after the executive order was issued, a federal judge in Seattle who was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan issued a temporary restraining order blocking the directive, saying he “had difficulty understanding” how the administration’s lawyers could argue the executive action was constitutional.

Under Boardman’s ruling, the order will remain blocked unless a higher court overturns her decision or until she issues a final ruling.

Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

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