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For Immediate Release
April, 25 2019, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Reynolds Graves: RGraves@LawyersCommittee.org
National Civil Rights Organization Calls for Facebook to Immediately Remove Militia Group Postings Holding Migrants Hostage
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law issued a demand letter to Facebook yesterday calling for the company to remove various videos and content posted by members of the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), an extremist militia group that has a history of illegally holding people hostage at the New Mexico border. The group's videos and activities violate a number of provisions in Facebook's Community Standards. In addition, the letter notes that the videos and other content raise serious concerns that UCP may have violated both federal and state law.
WASHINGTON
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law issued a demand letter to Facebook yesterday calling for the company to remove various videos and content posted by members of the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), an extremist militia group that has a history of illegally holding people hostage at the New Mexico border. The group's videos and activities violate a number of provisions in Facebook's Community Standards. In addition, the letter notes that the videos and other content raise serious concerns that UCP may have violated both federal and state law.
UCP's videos show members of the militia, dressed in military uniform, holding people at gunpoint. Because these videos include content showing possible assault, kidnapping and false imprisonment, among other illegal acts, the group alleges that UCP is in violation of Facebook's Community Standards, which prohibits "content depicting ... criminal acts" including "acts of physical harm committed against people." The letter also identifies several other provisions of Facebook's Community Standards which the UCP content may violate, including provisions prohibiting depictions of human trafficking, violent or graphic content, and content containing child abuse.
The UCP militia group has used Facebook to secure support and to promote the group's fundraising activities at a rapid pace.
"We believe Facebook has a duty to act and remove content posted by UCP that violates the company's community standards," said Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "The United Constitutional Patriots have engaged in illegal activities, including rounding up and restraining hundreds of people - including babies and young children - at gunpoint. UCP should not be allowed to use Facebook's platform to gain support for their illegal actions."
The letter is available here.
The Lawyers' Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to enlist the private bar's leadership and resources in combating racial discrimination and the resulting inequality of opportunity - work that continues to be vital today.
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Amnesty Calls for War Crimes Probe After Israel 'Obliterated Entire Families' in Lebanon
"How many more families will have to pull the body parts of their children from the rubble before this devastating cycle of war crimes ends?"
Jul 09, 2026
Amnesty International on Thursday demanded a war crimes investigation into Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, which the human rights watchdog described as "wiping out families."
The strikes in question took place in March and killed 24 civilians, including 12 children, in neighborhoods in the cities of Tyre, Saida, and Nabatieh.
Amnesty said it has gathered enough evidence to reasonably conclude that Israeli forces violated international law by failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets when conducting the campaign.
The human rights group said it reached these conclusions after conducting more than a dozen on-the-ground interviews with survivors, relatives of victims, and paramedics who were called to the scene after the strikes. Additionally, the group analyzed satellite photos along with videos of the strikes posted on social media.
One survivor, a retired Lebanese man named Hussein Saleh, said that the strike in his neighborhood in Tyre killed his wife, their two children, his sister-in-law and her five-year-old daughter, and two other relatives.
Moussa Chaalan, a paramedic who arrived on the scene after the attack, told Amnesty "there was nothing left of the house" when they got there.
"The body parts were scattered as far as 200 meters away from the impact site," Chaalan added.
Mohamad Taqi, 54, told Amnesty that Israel's strike in the Saida district killed seven family members, including his 78-year-old mother, Zeinab Nasser, and his 12-year-old daughter Zahraa.
"In the bedroom where the missile hit, I couldn’t find a trace of Zeinab and Zahraa," Taqi said. "The paramedics later found their body parts and they gathered them. When I lost hope of finding them alive, I went to the hospital. I was injured in my head, eye, and face."
Kristine Beckerle, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said the international community needed to impose consequences on Israel for what she described as "a callous disregard for civilian lives."
"Within the space of just a week, the Israeli military obliterated entire families, including a dozen children, in Lebanon," said Beckerle. "How many more families will have to pull the body parts of their children from the rubble before this devastating cycle of war crimes ends? The international community must act now: states must impose an immediate comprehensive arms embargo on Israel and use universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those responsible."
Beckerle added that the three attacks investigated by Amnesty "are part of a well-documented pattern of unlawful Israeli attacks carried out in Lebanon, amidst a total vacuum of accountability."
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'Now the Ball Is in the Court of the Democratic Establishment,' Platner Says as He Suspends Campaign
Graham Platner said the process to replace him "needs to be reflecting the will and the values of the people that built this movement."
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Graham Platner suspended his US Senate campaign in Maine late Wednesday in the wake of a sexual assault allegation, saying in a defiant video statement that the Democratic establishment used the accusation to force him from the race against five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Platner, who won last month's Democratic Senate primary in Maine following Gov. Janet Mills' exit from the race, said the sexual assault allegation was "very serious" and "false." But, he said, the "structural pressure" imposed by the "political establishment" and "corporate media system" made it impossible for him to continue campaigning in any serious way.
"We are going to lose our ability to fundraise," said Platner, whose campaign reportedly had under $100,000 in cash available to spend when he decided to halt his Senate bid. "We are going to lose our ability to access voter data. We are going to lose all of the things that any campaign needs on the basic level simply to function. Larger organizations, the national party, the bigger donor networks, they have all committed to spending no money in this race if I'm in it."
Platner said that "now the ball is in the court of the Democratic establishment," which he pushed to implement an "open, transparent, and democratic" process to choose his replacement. He said he would not try to "dictate to anyone" who the replacement should be.
"It needs to be reflecting the will and the values of the people that built this movement, the people that showed up on June 9th. People in DC need to stay in DC," said Platner. "Decisions should not be made in back rooms by people in places of political power. Party apparatchiks are not the ones to make these decisions. These decisions need to be made in the open by the people of this state."
Watch Platner's full remarks:
My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine. pic.twitter.com/RKVyLU76tm
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 9, 2026
Shortly before Platner released his video message, the top officials at the Maine Democratic Party issued a statement announcing that the party on Wednesday had hosted "a meeting with over 100 state committee members who voted to hold a nominating convention to choose a new nominee."
"We will announce the full timeline, details for how the nomination process will move forward, information about how to participate, and requirements for candidates soon. We will keep the public informed throughout the process—transparency is of the utmost importance," said Maine Democrats' chair, vice chair, and executive director. "There is an unprecedented amount of energy and enthusiasm among Maine Democrats, driven in part by many of the dedicated volunteers and supporters who were inspired by Graham Platner’s campaign. We look forward to coming together and harnessing that energy around our new nominee as we work to defeat Susan Collins in November."
Bangor Daily News reported that the convention approved by the Maine Democratic Party's state committee "would include 500 delegates elected proportionally by county committees, along with the entire state committee." Some reports indicated that county caucuses would be held to elect delegates to attend the convention, but Maine Democratic officials have not yet disclosed full details.
Progressive strategist Andrew Feldman warned that it would be "extremely challenging to pick a new nominee through a convention, not an open caucus, and create the energy needed to win."
"Let's not kid ourselves," he added.
Several prominent Maine Democrats—including former state Senate President Troy Jackson, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, and former Maine CDC director Nirav Shah—have expressed interest in replacing Platner.
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the national progressive advocacy group Our Revolution, said Platner "made the right decision to step aside" but added that "this is not the Democratic establishment's opening to hand-pick a replacement." The group, which rescinded its endorsement of Platner following the sexual assault allegation, is now backing Jackson—who performed best against Collins in new polling commissioned by Platner's campaign.
"Maine's progressives won the primary by a historic margin, on Medicare for All, on ending corporate money in politics, on ending forever wars. That result doesn't disappear because one candidate is gone," said Geevarghese. "That is why we are rallying behind Troy Jackson. He is a logger, a union leader, and former President of the Maine State Senate. He led Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns in Maine twice."
"Maine Democrats have days, not weeks, to decide whether the convention reflects what voters already said on June 9, or whether the party hands this seat to an insider pick after just watching that lane lose," he added. "To the establishment: This is not your opening. The people who won this primary get to decide what comes next, not the party insiders who already lost it."
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"Restarting his reckless war with Iran won't make America stronger," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "It will cost more lives and waste more taxpayer dollars."
Jul 08, 2026
Key progressives in Congress took aim at President Donald Trump on Wednesday amid his second straight night of attacks on Iran.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) first said Tuesday that its forces had "begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran," in response to attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Then, Trump said Wednesday that the ceasefire established under the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last month was "over" and "I don't want to deal with" the Iranians.
As oil prices soared, CENTCOM announced later Wednesday that "at the direction of the commander in chief, US Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway."
Minutes later, progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declared: "After getting the United States into a war based on lies, Trump has now declared the ceasefire with Iran 'over' after less than a month. Restarting his reckless war with Iran won't make America stronger. It will cost more lives and waste more taxpayer dollars. END THIS WAR."
Meanwhile, Trump shared a series of videos of the bombings across Iran on his Truth Social platform Wednesday evening.
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) said in a statement that "the Trump administration is steering the United States back toward an illegal and disastrous war with Iran. Rather than implementing the agreement it negotiated, it has chosen escalation over diplomacy."
"A return to war is illegal," NIAC emphasized. "Congress passed a war powers resolution directing the president to terminate hostilities, and a majority of Americans oppose another war with Iran. If President Trump wants to return to war, he must seek congressional authorization. If he refuses, Congress must enforce the law."
The US House of Representatives voted 215-208 in favor of a war powers resolution aimed at ending Trump's illegal war of choice on Iran early last month. After a few weeks, the Senate also passed it, with a 50-48 vote—but just a day later, under pressure from the president, Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) helped the GOP block a subsequent measure.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), sponsor of the blocked resolution, said at the time that "after both Republican-majority Houses took the historic step of voting that additional war against Iran is illegal without congressional authorization, President Trump came to the Capitol and tried to browbeat Republican senators for upholding their oaths of office."
"To appease his temper tantrum, Republicans agreed to defeat a superfluous motion to proceed to a separate War Powers Resolution currently pending before the Senate," he continued. "The vote is of no consequence and does not undo the expressed position of Congress that further war against Iran is illegal unless Congress votes for it."
Kaine also spoke out Wednesday morning, saying: "Congress voted against more war with Iran. The U.S. should not be launching new strikes without congressional authorization and restarting a war that has raised gas prices, killed Americans, and hurt the economy. The U.S. and Iran must return to a ceasefire."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) weighed in Wednesday afternoon: "Donald Trump's war with Iran has cost American lives, and jacked up prices on gas and groceries for millions across the globe. Congress voted against this war. Congress shouldn't allow Donald Trump to continue it."
Key House members have also spoken out since the strikes resumed Tuesday. Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) said that "Trump is extending his disastrous, illegal war with Iran. Congress and the American people have demanded the war end. Instead, Trump is choosing higher gas prices, more lives lost, and more instability. Outrageous."
Noting the new attacks and Trump's ceasefire comment, CPC Chair Emerita Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) similarly stressed that "this is another escalation in a war that the American people do not want. The House and Senate passed bipartisan war powers resolutions for this exact reason. This war must end NOW."
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