Sunday Smiles

David Strom 2:30 PM | May 11, 2025
meme

I disagree with criticisms of Trump's moves to revoke student visas and even Green Cards for immigrants who break the law or declare their enmity for the United States. And, in most cases, I think the people who make these arguments are utter hypocrites because they would fall all over themselves to deport a supporter of Nazism, especially one who spent a good chunk of their time harassing Jews, taking over buildings, and shouting about how they want to replace the American government with one more to their liking. 

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Spare me your crocodile tears. People on visas are here at our invitation, and if they loudly proclaim how our country sucks or, worse, make the country worse off then it's fair to kick them out. 

But there is at least one case where I think the criticism of an ICE arrest and threat to deport a person on a student visa really did cross the line. 

The case involves a Tufts graduate student from Turkey, who signed onto an Op/Ed with other students criticizing the Tufts administration for rejecting a student resolution promoting the BDS movement, which promotes boycotting Israel and divesting from investments in the country. 

I think BDS is wrongheaded, and is often promoted by antisemites--although not always--and I think Tufts is right to reject the resolution. 

But I read the Op/Ed, and there was nothing antisemitic or anti-American about it. It was a tedious, poorly written piece of drivel. What it was not was hateful or destructive to the United States. It seemed to me that, in this case, the government really was trying to suppress anodyne ideas--not just hers, but those of her fellow students who might be deterred from writing such things. 

Deporting foreign students for trying to undermine the country seems fair to me--they are trying to harm their hosts. Deporting students for holding opinions contrary to a particular administration's preferences does not. Our country is not so fragile that a pro-American student holding the "wrong" views on an issue strikes me as overreach. Legal, yes, but right? No. 

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Generally speaking, I could find a thousand or a hundred thousand college students indoctrinated by their commie professors, whose views are much more destructive to our country. 

You can read the Op/Ed here and decide for yourself. My first thought on reading it is that anything written by academically inclined people needs an editor. It was tedious. 

I thought of this case after reading yet another hideous story coming out of Britain in which the government came down hard on somebody for holding the wrong views.

The story is appalling. A former police officer--not that that fact matters--was subject to horrible police harassment because he posted something on X that somebody found offensive. Who that might be is a mystery, since the post had only 26 viewers at the time that police stormed into his home, searched it for six hours, and dragged him off to jail and harsh questioning. 

They cited him for what amounted to a hate crime, and it took a year and a half to get the citation expunged. 

A retired special constable was arrested and detained over a social media post warning about the threat of anti-Semitism in Britain, The Telegraph can reveal.

Julian Foulkes, from Gillingham in Kent, was handcuffed at his home by six officers from Kent Police – the force he had served for a decade – after challenging a supporter of pro-Palestinian marches on X.

Police body-worn camera footage captured officers scrutinising the 71-year-old’s collection of books by authors such as Douglas Murray, a Telegraph contributor, and issues of The Spectator, pointing to what they described as “very Brexity things”.

They were also shown raising concerns about a shopping list containing bleach, tin foil and gloves drawn up by Mr Foulkes’s wife, a hairdresser.

“Free speech is clearly under attack,” said Mr Foulkes. “Nobody is really safe… the public needs to see what’s happening, and be shocked.”

His case is the latest in a string of heavy-handed police responses to lawful expression. Last year, The Telegraph revealed that its columnist Allison Pearson was questioned at home by two officers over an X post following pro-Palestinian protests.

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No sane person would want to go through something like that, even if--after over a year--the police finally apologize. The intent is clearly to suppress any speech the government doesn't like by deploying its vast power to make saying things the government doesn't like too costly to make speaking up worthwhile. 

This is especially ironic because the "pro-Palestinian" protests are filled with people calling for the murder of Jews, the creation of an Islamic state in Britain, and outright threats against people who support Israel. Migrants can do that without consequence, but Britons who criticize them will get harassed by the police. 

Visitors to a host country should, at a minimum, be expected to refrain from calling for their host's destruction, and if they are doing so or even breaking the law as part of their "speech," they should be shown the door. 

But disagreeing with a school policy and merely saying so should not result in expulsion, even if doing so is technically allowed. We have much bigger fish to fry, and mostly inoffensive speech laid out in an orderly fashion shouldn't inspire the mobilization of the vast power of the state. It doesn't just look bad, but is bad. Writing an Op/Ed is the best form of free speech, in a way that disorderly protests are not. 

So in this case, I disagree, unless there is some background to the story about which we have yet to be informed. It was a mistake, and one that shouldn't be repeated. 

  



























































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