Supporters of Palestinian causes with ties to American universities have been detained in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants.

President Donald Trump and other officials have accused protesters and others of being “pro-Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Many protesters have said they were speaking out against Israel’s actions in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

More than half a dozen people are known to have been taken into custody or deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in recent weeks.

Rumeysa Ozturk

Federal officers detained 30-year-old Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk on Tuesday as she walked along a street in suburban Boston. A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said without providing evidence that an investigation found Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University, “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

Friends and colleagues of Ozturk said her only known activism was co-authoring an op-ed in a student newspaper that called on Tufts University to engage with student demands to cut ties with Israel. Ozturk has been taken to an ICE detention center in Louisiana. A U.S. District judge has given the government until Friday to explain why Ozturk is being detained.

FILE – Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

Mahmoud Khalil

This month, immigration enforcement agents arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who was prominent in protests at Columbia last year. The administration has said it revoked Khalil’s green card because his role in the campus protests amounted to antisemitic support for Hamas. He is fighting deportation.

Khalil served as a negotiator for Columbia students as they bargained with university officials over ending their campus encampment last spring. He was born in Syria but is a legal U.S. resident married to an American citizen.

Yunseo Chung

Yunseo Chung is a Columbia student and lawful U.S. resident who moved to America from Korea as a child. Chung attended and was arrested at a sit-in this month at nearby Barnard College protesting the expulsion of students who participated in pro-Palestinian activism.

The Department of Homeland Security wants to deport Chung and has said she “engaged in concerning conduct,” including being arrested on a misdemeanor charge. A judge ordered immigration agents not to detain Chung while her legal challenge is pending.

Badar Khan Suri

Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown scholar from India, was arrested outside his Virginia home and detained by masked Homeland Security agents on allegations that he spread Hamas propaganda. Suri’s attorney wrote in a court filing that he was targeted because of his social media posts and his wife’s “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech.” Suri holds a visa authorizing him to be in the U.S. as a visiting scholar, and his wife is a U.S. citizen, according to court documents.

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Suri was taken to a detention facility in Louisiana, according to a government website. His lawyers are seeking his immediate release and to halt deportation proceedings.

Leqaa Kordia

Leqaa Kordia, a resident of Newark, New Jersey, was detained and accused of failing to leave the U.S. after her student visa expired. Federal authorities said Kordia is a Palestinian from the West Bank and that she was arrested at or near Columbia during pro-Palestinian protests. Columbia has said it has no record of her being a student there.

Kordia is being held in an immigration detention center in Alvarado, Texas, according to a government database.

Ranjani Srinivasan

Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and doctoral student at Columbia, fled the U.S. after immigration agents searched for her at her university residence. The Trump administration has said it revoked Srinivasan’s visa for “advocating for violence and terrorism.” Srinivasan opted to “self-deport.”

Officials didn’t say what evidence they have that Srinivasan advocated violence. Her lawyers deny the accusations, and she told The New York Times that she didn’t help to organize protests at Columbia.

Alireza Doroudi

University of Alabama student Alireza Doroudi was detained by ICE on Tuesday, the university confirmed. The Crimson White, the student newspaper, said Doroudi was detained, but neither the university nor the newspaper explained why he is in ICE custody.

David Rozas, a lawyer representing Doroudi, said in an email that Doroudi is being detained in Alabama but he believes Doroudi will be moved to an immigration facility in Jena, Louisiana. Doroudi is a doctoral student from Iran studying mechanical engineering, Rozas said. Doroudi said he isn’t aware of any suspected criminal activity or violations of his lawful status.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist from Lebanon who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was deported this month, even though a federal judge ordered that she not be removed until a hearing could be held. Homeland Security officials said Alawieh was deported as soon as she returned to the U.S. from Lebanon, despite having a U.S. visa, because she “openly admitted” supporting former Hezbollah leaderHassan Nasrallah. Alawieh told officers she followed him for his religious and spiritual teachings and not his politics, court documents said.

She was to start work at Brown University as an assistant professor of medicine. Stephanie Marzouk, Alawieh’s lawyer, has said she will fight to get the 34-year-old doctor back to the U.S.

Momodou Taal

Momodou Taal is a doctoral student at Cornell University whose visa was revoked after he participated in campus demonstrations.

Taal, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, has asked a federal judge to halt his detention during his court challenge. The government says it revoked Taal’s student visa because of his alleged involvement in “disruptive protests.”

His attorneys say the 31-year-old doctoral student in Africana studies was exercising free speech rights. Taal said he will surrender to immigration authorities if the court determines the government is acting legally. Taal said in a court declaration that “I feel like a prisoner already, although all I have done is exercise my rights.”

By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Noted economist Arthur Laffer warns in a new analysis that President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on auto imports could add $4,711 to the cost of a vehicle and says the proposed taxes could weaken the ability of U.S. automakers to compete with their foreign counterparts.

In the 21-page analysis obtained by The Associated Press, Laffer, whom Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019 for his contributions to economics, says the auto industry would be in a better position if the Republican president preserved the supply chain rules with Canada and Mexico from his own 2019 USMCA trade pact.

The White House has temporarily exempted auto and parts imports under the USMCA from the tariffs starting on April 3 so that the Trump administration can put together a process for taxing non-U.S. content in vehicles and parts that fall under the agreement.

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“Without this exemption, the proposed tariff risks causing irreparable damage to the industry, contradicting the administration’s goals of strengthening U.S. manufacturing and economic stability,” Laffer writes in the analysis. “A 25% tariff would not only shrink, or possibly eliminate, profit margins for U.S. manufacturers but also weaken their ability to compete with international rivals.”

In a Friday interview with The Associated Press, Laffer said the report had caused a “kerfuffle” and cautioned that it only applied to the economics, rather than Trump’s negotiating skills and strategic approach to trade.

“The report shows the economics of what would happen were the tariffs to be put in place,” he said. “This is about facts, not how we feel.”

The economist was quick to also praise Trump as a negotiator who has deep knowledge of trade issues, indicating that the tariff threats could be used as they had during Trump’s first term to ultimately lower barriers to trade and improve outcomes for the U.S. economy.

“Donald Trump is more familiar with the gains from trade than any politician I’ve ever talked to in my life,” Laffer said. ”Do not take this paper in any way, shape or form as criticizing Donald Trump and what his strategies are.”

He added that he trusts the president and sees him as exceptionally competent.

While Trump’s tariff plans have frightened the stock market and U.S. consumers, Laffer’s analysis and other reports show the possible economic risks if the threat of import taxes is unable to produce a durable set of deals with other countries. The paper reminds Trump that it’s not too late to change course, specifically complimenting the USMCA negotiated in his first term as a “significant achievement.”

“The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has served as a cornerstone of President Trump’s first term and has quickly become a dominant feature of North American trade policy, fostering economic growth, stabilizing supply chains, and strengthening the U.S. auto industry,” Laffer writes.

The analysis says that the per vehicle cost without the USMCA exemption would be $4,711, but that figure would be a lower $2,765 if the exemptions were sustained.

Trump honored Laffer with the highest civilian honor 45 years after the economist famously sketched out on a napkin the Laffer curve, showing that there’s an optimal tax rate for collecting revenue.

The bell-shaped curve indicated that there’s a tax rate so high that it could be self-defeating for generating tax revenues. Many Republicans embraced the curve as evidence that lower tax rates could generate stronger growth that would lead to higher tax revenues.

“Dr. Laffer helped inspire, guide, and implement extraordinary economic reforms that recognize the power of human freedom and ingenuity to grow our economy and lift families out of poverty and into a really bright future,” Trump said in awarding him the medal.

Laffer served on the economic policy advisory board of President Ronald Reagan, in addition to being a university professor. He has his own economic consultancy, Laffer Associates. In 1970, he was the first chief economist of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Laffer also advised Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign and co-wrote a flattering book, “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy.”

Trump maintains that 25% tariffs will cause more foreign and domestic automakers to expand production and open new factories in the United States. On Monday, he celebrated a planned $5.8 billion investment by South Korean automaker Hyundai to build a steel plant in Louisiana as evidence that his strategy would succeed.

Trump said the 25% auto tariffs would help to reduce the federal budget deficit while moving more production into the United States.

“For the most part, I think it’s going to lead cars to be made in one location,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “For right now, the car would be made here, sent to Canada, sent to Mexico, sent to all over the place. It’s ridiculous.”

ST. LOUIS — Some point to Aug. 17 as the day the Twins’ season started to fall apart last year.

The Twins, after beating the Texas Rangers in the first three games of the series, were up 4-0 in the seventh inning when Jorge Alcala entered the game and was rocked for five runs in just a matter of minutes. From then on, the Twins went 12-27 to finish their season, missing the playoffs.

But, in truth, things had started to unravel even before then. Ten days earlier, Joe Ryan threw what would be the last pitch of his season, leaving his Aug. 7 start at Wrigley Field early with what turned out to be a teres major strain.

That shoulder meant the Twins spent the rest of the season trotting out three rookies in the rotation. Now healthy, Ryan, who will make his first start of the season on Saturday versus the St. Louis Cardinals, very well could be one of the keys to the Twins’ season.

“It’s always difficult,” Ryan said of watching from afar last year. “Obviously, you want to play, and you have expectations, and to have something just come out of nowhere, especially just that week, I was feeling really good. I think (it was) just kind of a slap in the face.”

But Ryan was feeling better as the offseason began and got clean imaging in November. Watching Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitch in the postseason after suffering a similar injury, and talking to other pitchers who had gone through the same, helped build his confidence that he, too, could return just as effective as ever.

And Ryan, at his top form, could be a Cy Young Award contender if he puts together a season in which he can maintain his health throughout. At the time of his injury last year, Ryan was in the midst of perhaps the best year of his career. He had a 3.60 earned-run average, a 0.985 WHIP (Walks and Hits Per Innings Pitched) and was striking out nearly 10 batters per nine innings.

After offseasons of tinkering with new pitches, Ryan was able to come to come to spring training this year confident in his pitch mix.

“I’m happy with all my pitches,” he said. “I think coming into camp this year not having to see how things work, knowing the splitter works, knowing the sweeper works, knowing the sinker works, four-seam, cutter, they all play. And it was just being able to pitch with those and then work on some other things.”

That confidence extended to his health, as well.

This spring, Ryan felt strong. He wasn’t rehabbing, though he spent the end of last season on the injured list — he was just building up for the season like the rest of the rotation.

“His stuff keeps getting better. He’s throwing strikes. The delivery looks the way it should,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It all checked out. He had that little blip a few days early in camp when he was down, but overall, before that and even after that, everything has gone really smoothly.”

And for Ryan and the Twins, it’s been a long time coming.

“Something about getting games back changes the mindset a little bit and just turns everything up a little bit more,” Ryan said. “You remember why you’re here and what you’re doing.

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By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court for permission to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law, while a court fight continues.

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The emergency appeal to the high court follows a rejection of the Republican administration’s plea to the federal appeals court in Washington. By a 2-1 vote, a panel of appellate judges left in place an order temporarily prohibiting deportations of the migrants under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act

The Justice Department argued in court papers that federal courts shouldn’t interfere with sensitive diplomatic negotiations. It also claimed that migrants should make their case in a federal court in Texas, where they are being detained.

The order temporarily blocking the deportations was issued by U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, the chief judge at the federal courthouse in Washington.

President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II to justify the deportation of hundreds of people under a presidential proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.

“Here, the district court’s orders have rebuffed the President’s judgments as to how to protect the Nation against foreign terrorist organizations and risk debilitating effects for delicate foreign negotiations,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in the court filing.

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelan noncitizens who were being held in Texas, hours after the proclamation was made public.

The court set a Tuesday deadline for a response from the ACLU.

The case has become a flashpoint amid escalating tension between the White House and the federal courts.

President Donald Trump waves to the media as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Boasberg imposed a temporary halt on deportations and ordered planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants to return to the U.S. That did not happen. The judge has since vowed to determine whether the government defied his order to turn the planes around. The administration has invoked a “state secrets privilege” and refused to give Boasberg any additional information about the deportations.

Trump and his allies have called for impeaching Boasberg. In a rare statement, Chief Justice John Roberts said “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

The Alien Enemies Act allows noncitizens to be deported without the opportunity for a hearing before an immigration or federal court judge.

Boasberg ruled that immigrants facing deportation must get an opportunity to challenge their designations as alleged gang members. His ruling said there is “a strong public interest in preventing the mistaken deportation of people based on categories they have no right to challenge.”