The American dream betrayed: Silencing voices
The United States of America, once self-proclaimed as the bastion of freedom, equality, morality, and the ultimate authority on democracy and human rights—or so Hollywood would have us believe—has long been complicit in waging wars that ruthlessly murder innocent men, women, and children around the world. Although the "American dream" is often portrayed as a quaint house in a serene suburb with a white picket fence and a golden retriever in its backyard, the actual American dream of a self-aware taxpayer is simply not to have their hard-earned money siphoned into the trillion-dollar military-industrial complex that perpetuates cycles of violence and devastation abroad. They would much rather have access to affordable healthcare, housing, and higher education.
Take the case of the Palestinians, a people who have suffered catastrophically since the October 7 Hamas attacks, and Israel's indiscriminate bombings, arbitrary detentions, starvation, forced displacement, and mental and physical torture. Year after year, they are stripped of their dignity and basic human rights under the Israeli occupation forces—a horror that is funded by the US government and broadcast to the entire world in technicolour. If you, as someone living in the US and as a human being with a heart that yearns for justice, feel compelled to take to the streets to protest these atrocities or even share an informative post on social media, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may come knocking to revoke your visa, detain, or deport you.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. If you seek to escape the psychological warfare stemming from watching a genocide live, you may exercise your constitutionalised freedom of speech and assembly and raise your voice against the injustices scapegoated under the banner of Israel's "self-defence." Unfortunately, doing so could place your livelihood, your safety, and your future at risk. The same country that claims to be the beacon of democracy will punish you for exercising your legal rights because your actions are simply not congenial to the Trump administration's policies.
Since March of this year, the situation has worsened dramatically, descending into a surreal Orwellian dystopia where Big Brother watches your every move. International students, like myself, are bearing the brunt of this blatant disregard for the constitution. Across the US, students have been subjected to tear gas, police brutality and harassment on college campuses under both the Biden and Trump administrations for advocating for Palestinian freedom and calling for the boycott and divestment from companies that directly profit from Israel's genocide of the Palestinians. Since Trump has retaken the wheel, the crackdown on immigrants and non-immigrants alike has intensified.
It was only recently that Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student from Columbia University who led protests against the genocide in Gaza, was picked up illegally by ICE despite having a green card. His 8-month pregnant wife's relentless pleas to visit him were ignored for more than a month, and she had to give birth to their first child without Khalil by her side.
The intense crackdown on immigrants has even affected Bangladeshi students in the US, who are gripped with fear and anxiety over their student visas being revoked. Many have had to clear out their social media of pro-Palestine posts and self-censor their conversations over the phone. Some have cancelled trips back home amidst notices from their universities warning they may not be able to return under the current political climate. Even green card holders re-entering the country fear arbitrary detention or deportation at the John F Kennedy International Airport. Students worry that if green card holders can be harassed, deporting a student visa holder would be insignificant in comparison.
I have been forced to write under a pseudonym as my family lives in the US, and their association with me may adversely affect their travels to and from Bangladesh. The US has forced us to self-censor our advocacy by weaponising fear and threatening the safety of our families and futures. Our advocacy feels so incriminating that we have to make a choice between standing for what is right and protecting ourselves and our loved ones. The country has criminalised standing up for justice by blatantly infringing on the rights of its citizens, immigrants and particularly students.
Elite private institutions such as Columbia, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania have faced federal funding cuts and coercive attempts by the Trump administration to interfere in their curriculum and governance, all under the banner of combating antisemitism and curbing campus activism for Palestine. While Columbia caved, Harvard resisted the demands and sued the Trump administration for its unwarranted funding cuts and encroachment on their internal academic matters.
This situation reveals a sinister and dark truth about the state of democracy in the US. The ongoing immigration crackdown is simply yet another symptom of declining freedom in the US and the double standards that run deep into the fabric of its foreign and domestic policies. The targeting of pro-Palestinian voices is nothing new, but the Trump administration's attempt at manufacturing consent for siphoning billions into the Israeli war machine by harassing those who came to the US for a better future is a new and disturbing low. During the Obama era, there at least existed a facade that the US cared about democracy and human rights on its own soil.
The suppression of dissenting voices is a trait of authoritarian regimes, not democratic countries, and certainly not of the very champion of democracy itself. Immigrants and non-immigrants alike being subjected to this nightmarish treatment by ICE and adjacent agencies show loopholes in the US legal system, touted as one that upholds justice.
Civil liberties must be protected at all costs. Universities must push back to protect their autonomy against an increasingly suppressive and intolerant government that seeks to undermine free speech and remove diversity and equality from US society. This is no longer just about Palestine. It is about the rapid, systematic dismantling of long-held "American values" accelerated by Trump and his entourage. The values of justice, morality and freedom need to be reclaimed. The people's tolerance for the crackdown on dissent and disinformation is a ticking clock; only time will tell whether the "American dream" is gone for good.
Afia H is a US-based activist writing under a pseudonym. She can be reached at [email protected].
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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