This commentary is by Mary Dingee Fillmore of Burlington. She is author of the award-winning “An Address in Amsterdam,” an historical novel about a young Jewish woman who joins the anti-Nazi resistance, and speaker for the Vermont Humanities Council about “resistance then and now.”
“The inevitability of justice and a deep belief in democracy” — these are welcome words, especially from imprisoned Mohsen Mahdawi when he spoke to Sen. Peter Welch. Mahdawi is the beloved Upper Valley resident snatched by ICE agents when he reported for his citizenship hearing April 14.
At least he is jailed here in Vermont, unlike Fulbright Scholar Rümeysa Öztürk, who was abducted in Massachusetts on March 25, then hopscotched to New Hampshire and Vermont on her way to a notorious detention center in Louisiana. The video of her “arrest” showed the 30 year old female doctoral candidate marched off in handcuffs after her screams were ignored. Despite being jailed in inhumane conditions and denied medical care, visiting legislators were “struck by her unwavering spirit.”
Will the courts — and you and I — vindicate Mahdawi’s faith in our system, and Öztürk’s spirit? Our brave little state is the front line of the battle to protect the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and due process of law. The international press is a rare sight outside our Burlington courthouse. But they understand that the Mahdawi and Öztürk cases will determine whether our constitutional rights are still alive.
Fully 250 years ago this month, Americans rebelled against tyranny and the arbitrary use of power — and fought for the very liberties which are at issue in these cases.
Both Öztürk and Mahdawi are petitioning for habeas corpus, a concept rooted in 15th-century England to protect people from unjust detention by the King. Öztürk’s case will be heard May 6 before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. We can hope she will eventually be returned to Vermont.
Meanwhile, Mahdawi’s case was scheduled for April 30, partly to give the government time to review 94 letters of support, “unprecedented” in Judge Crawford’s experience. Öztürk’s are equally impressive, including from the president of Tufts University. Both have prominent Jewish supporters.
These cases are being tried in at least four courts: the U.S. District Court of Vermont, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the court of public opinion, and the hearts of the petitioners. The Trump administration is watching. Is the Bill of Rights one of the “things” they will “break fast?” Or will the people and the courts stop them?
What are we Vermonters willing to allow within our borders? Will we permit an unidentified vehicle to whiz through the night with a shackled woman whose only “crime” is co-authoring a column? When a local resident attends his citizenship hearing, are we willing for him to be handcuffed and imprisoned based on the vaguest accusations? Surely not in the state of “Freedom and Unity.”
No matter what our politics are, constitutional rights are the foundation of our democracy. That’s part of why the Hartland church was packed with people who want to help their neighbor Mohsen.
Let us make such a public outcry that the administration must stop these outrages against our Constitution. Contact the governor and our legislators, respond to the press coverage, share concerns on social media, come to the courthouse, protest and organize to activate others; and contact the White House, Todd Lyons at ICE and Kristi Noem at Homeland Security.
If you think they won’t listen, or doubt that justice is inevitable, speak up if only to let Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi know you care. In an interview with CBS News the day before his detention, Mahdawi said “I believe in the American people and their ability to see and to feel.”
Beyond our concern for these two individuals, if we permit them to be treated this way, won’t American citizens be next? The Trump administration first echoed early 20th-century anti-immigrant hatred, deporting “the worst of the worst” alleged gang members. Now we are at the other end of the spectrum. Rümeysa Öztürk is among the Fulbright Scholars invited here from around the world because they have exceptional contributions to make. The testimony about peace advocate Mohsen Mahdawi is equally glowing.
Notice Trump’s progression from deporting “gang members” to threatening writers, scholars and intellectuals. Now he says he’d “love to” ship “homegrown” prisoners to El Salvador, a country whose president says he is incapable of returning a prisoner who was sent there in error.
All of these people, and we ourselves, have rights under the U.S. Constitution, as long as we are willing to defend them. James Baldwin wrote to an imprisoned friend, “We must fight for your life as though it were our own—which it is—and render impassable with our bodies the corridor to the gas chamber. For, if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.”
Does history not tell us that any of us can be next, unless we protest right here, right now?
