Chuck Darwin<p>Earlier this week, University of Alabama PhD student and Iranian citizen <a href="https://c.im/tags/Alireza" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Alireza</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Doroudi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Doroudi</span></a> was abducted from his home at 5 AM and disappeared by the US Government. </p><p>As of March 28, Doroudi was moved by ICE to a jail in Jena, Louisiana. <br>Initially, it was unclear where he had been taken; <br>three days later, he has still not been charged with a crime</p><p>Doroudi’s attorney, David Rozas, told the AP: <br>“In the words of his fiancé, he is a nerd. <br>All he does is study and is literally trying to fulfill his dream, <br>the American dream, of becoming a researcher and professor of mechanical engineering.” </p><p>Rozas also said that Doroudi had <br>“not been arrested for any crime, nor has he participated in any anti-government protests.”</p><p>So far, there is no evidence that Doroudi wrote or said anything about Israel’s genocidal war on the people of Gaza<br>—the Trump administration’s unconstitutional, altogether illegal pretense for going after international student visas over the past month. </p><p>Doroudi’s arrest is yet more evidence that their entire <br>“antisemitic administration against antisemitism” battle plan is something they can take or leave <br>as a pretense for kidnapping international students and shredding due process. </p><p>So far, all the Department of Homeland Security has said about the arrest is that he <br>“posed significant national security concerns,” <br>without giving details.</p><p>Was it a random abduction because Doroudi is an Iranian citizen <br>and any pretense to provoke Iran into war is part of this administration’s agenda? </p><p>Is Netanyahu, in his clamoring for attacks on Iran, unilaterally rewriting, <br>or at minimum inspiring, <br>how we now do policing in this country? </p><p>Were the years of “pacification” training US police chiefs and officers received in Israel just seeding the ground for this moment? </p><p>Did DHS assume that if it singled out someone at the University of Alabama, neither the community nor the school’s administration would be up in arms? </p><p>Is there an irony in a school so dependent on Black football players for its notoriety and largesse not intervening in what might be a purely racist targeting? </p><p>I’m just asking questions.</p><p>It’s hard not to focus on the “American dream” part of Doroudi’s lawyer’s plea. </p><p>Instead of streets paved with gold, <br>he ends up in indefinite detention. </p><p>This is exactly what would have happened to Marco Rubio’s grandfather when he fled Fulgencio Batista’s right-wing, authoritarian dictatorship in Cuba in the 1950s. </p><p>I guess when his gramps told horror stories of Batista’s secret prisons <br>where people were tortured, <br>baby Marco was taking notes. </p><p>Grandpa Rubio remained in the United States illegally before going back to Cuba to help Castro, <br>then returned to the US on a “vacation” only to be detained as an undocumented immigrant. </p><p>He was set to be deported, but instead he stayed for years, ultimately applying for a “retroactive refugee” status. </p><p>While this much-parroted story has never quite sounded true, <br>we do know that Marco’s grandpa did not end up in an El Salvadoran labor camp.</p><p>As for Marco, he was 4 years old before his own parents became naturalized citizens. </p><p>If Musk/Trump gets away with ending birthright citizenship and then Little Marco accidentally sideswipes a Tesla, <br>he might find himself up close and personal with one of the aforementioned El Salvadoran concentration camps. </p><p>Here’s hoping he doesn’t have any tattoos in support of autism awareness or he could be in extra trouble.<br><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/alabama-alireza-doroudi-ice/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">thenation.com/article/society/</span><span class="invisible">alabama-alireza-doroudi-ice/</span></a></p>