Bend the Arc: DACA Ruling a Victory for Everyone Who Has Fought Trump's Attacks on Immigrant Families
Congress and state / local officials must do everything in their power to continue protecting immigrant youth and their families.
WASHINGTON
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action released the following statement on Thursday in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the Trump administration lacked the authority to end the DACA program:
"Today's ruling is a major victory for immigrant youth and for everyone who has fought against this administration's constant attacks on immigrant families," said Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action. "This long fight has been led by undocumented youth since the beginning, and their victory means hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth will have their legal protections, jobs, and health care upheld."
"Unfortunately, trying to end DACA has only been one piece of Trump's anti-immigrant agenda, and we know he and his administration won't stop harming and scapegoating immigrants and communities of color in order to make this a country only for people who look like them. The fight for the safety of all immigrants is part of a larger movement that demands justice, full equity, divestment from racist systems and institutions, and investments in Black people and communities of color."
"Jewish Americans continue to believe in the promise of a more just America. We have a moral obligation to fight for a future where every person, no matter where they're from or what they look like, can live and thrive without fear. We know this may not be the Trump Administration's last attempt to get rid of DACA, but even if the program remains, Congress and local and state officials must do everything in their power to protect immigrant youth and their families. Ultimately, the only way to end the cruelty is to provide a real pathway to citizenship for all immigrants, and dismantle the detention and deportation machine that is tearing communities apart. Preventing four more years of Trump's policies from becoming a reality remains critical, and this November we will rise up as one to build a country that is truly for all of us."
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action is a leader in the American Jewish community in fighting for justice for immigrants and demanding that Congress take action to protect immigrants. Bend the Arc supported the creation of the DACA and DAPA programs after mobilizing the Jewish community in support of immigration legislation in 2013. In 2018, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action organized a historic act of civil disobedience in Washington, DC in which 82 Jewish activists were arrested on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol while demanding a clean Dream Act. Since then, activists from Bend the Arc: Jewish Action organized dozens of local "Let My People Stay" actions and protests across the country inspired by this civil disobedience, and joined more than 18,000 Jews and allies rose up against the Trump Administration's family separation policies. In partnership with the Defund Hate Campaign, we continue to fight for Congress to cut the funding of Trump's detention and deportation machine, which makes all immigrant communities unsafe.
Bend the Arc is where progressive American Jews join together to fight for justice and equality for all. We are the only national Jewish organization focused exclusively on progressive social change in the United States.
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Wisconsin Judge's Case Is 'Far From Over,' Advocates Say After Conviction for Helping Immigrant at Courthouse
Judge Hannah Dugan's case is "not about one judge," said an advocacy group, but rather "the normalization of ICE operating in courthouses."
Dec 19, 2025
The case of Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan "is a long way from over" said a lawyer for the judge after a jury found her guilty late Thursday of the felony charge of obstructing immigration agents who showed up at her courtroom in April with the aim of arresting an immigrant who was appearing before Dugan.
The jury deliberated for six hours before finding Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit court judge, guilty of obstructing an official proceeding. The jurors acquitted her of a misdemeanor charge of concealing a person from arrest—a result her lawyer, Steve Biskupic, said he would question when he seeks to have the conviction thrown out by a court.
"While we are disappointed in today's outcome, the failure of the prosecution to secure convictions on both counts demonstrates the opportunity we have to clear Judge Dugan's name and show she did nothing wrong in this matter," said Dugan's legal team.
The Trump administration seized on the case in April after Dugan responded to FBI and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents' presence in the courthouse by telling the defendant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, to go out a back door of her courtroom after she had sent the agents to another part of the building.
FBI Director Kash Patel posted a photo of Dugan in handcuffs on social media in April, and Attorney General Pam Bondi attacked the judge in television appearances, accusing her of “protecting a criminal defendant over victims of crime.”
The case began at Milwaukee County Courthouse in April, when Dugan was hearing a number of misdemeanor cases in one day. Flores-Ruiz, who had been deported in 2013 and had reentered the US without authorization, was facing battery charges.
Emails presented in Dugan's case this week showed she had tried to push Milwaukee County Chief Judge Carl Ashley to make an official policy regarding how judges should handle the arrival of federal agents at a time when President Donald Trump's rapid escalation of his mass deportation campaign was sending ICE officers to courthouses across the country. Courts had previously been treated as protected areas where immigration enforcement could not take place.
"We reject a system that uses prosecution and brute force to advance a far-right, anti-immigrant agenda and criminalizes those who stand up against this assault on our human and constitutional rights."
Without official guidelines in place, the court clerk who notified Dugan of the ICE agents' presence, Alan Freed, testified that he had been "upset and a little bit outraged" that the officers were there.
Dugan confronted the agents, who were sitting in the hallway and waiting to arrest Flores-Ruiz, and told them to go down the hall to Ashley's office.
An FBI special agent testified that Dugan "seemed to be angry" when she confronted the officers.
Dugan then returned to her courtroom and told Flores-Ruiz's lawyer she would find a new date for his hearing. She spoke privately to a court reporter saying Flores-Ruiz could leave the room through a side door that was not open to the public.
“I’ll get the heat," Dugan said.
The side door led to a stairwell and also to another door that opened into a public hallway where the federal agents were. Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer went through the door and an agent followed and then chased the defendant, arresting him outside the courthouse. Flores-Ruiz was deported last month.
Prosecutors said during the case that Dugan had intended for Flores-Ruiz to escape the agents by going down the stairwell—even though he did the opposite.
An attorney on Dugan's legal team said during closing arguments that she "never acted corruptly in doing her job as a judge in the middle of a stressful, new, and confusing situation."
Dugan could serve up to five years in prison and will likely be barred from serving as a judge, as the Wisconsin Constitution prohibits people convicted of felonies from holding public office.
Norm Eisen, executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, also emphasized that the case is "far from over."
"Substantial legal and constitutional issues remain unresolved, and they are exactly the kinds of questions appellate courts are meant to address. Higher courts will have the opportunity to determine whether this prosecution crossed the lines that protect the judiciary from executive overreach," said Eisen.
Milwaukee-based advocacy group Voces de la Frontera emphasized that Dugan's case "is not about one judge," but rather "the normalization of ICE operating in courthouses and the expansion of immigration enforcement into spaces meant to guarantee fairness, safety, and access to justice."
"By validating this prosecution, the verdict blurs the line between the courts and executive enforcement power, signaling that the law will be enforced aggressively against immigrants and those who dare to defend their rights, while the privileged and powerful continue to evade accountability," said the group, calling Dugan's case "a political prosecution that criminalized the exercise of judicial independence and the defense of due process."
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Vocesde la Frontera, said the verdict "tells judges, court staff, and our communities that defending due process comes with consequences."
"That is not justice, it is intimidation," she said. "We reject a system that uses prosecution and brute force to advance a far-right, anti-immigrant agenda and criminalizes those who stand up against this assault on our human and constitutional rights. We stand in solidarity with Judge Hannah Dugan as her legal defense moves forward to clear her name, and we stand with the immigrant community in calling for ICE out of our courtrooms."
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UK Medical Professionals Warn Palestine Action Hunger Strikers 'Will Die in Prison'
“I hope it doesn’t have to come to that because these demands are very, very simple,” said a friend to one of the activists. “They are asking the British government to uphold international and national law.”
Dec 19, 2025
Eight Palestine Action activists in the UK are at risk of dying in prison as they remain on hunger strike to protest their detention, according to hundreds of medical professionals.
More than 800 doctors, nurses, and therapists wrote to Justice Secretary David Lammy on Thursday to warn that the detainees, who are all between the ages of 20 and 31, were not receiving adequate medical care. The activists are being held in five prisons on remand, meaning that they are kept in prison before trial without being released on bail.
"Without resolution, there is the real and increasingly likely potential that young British citizens will die in prison, having never even been convicted of an offense,” the campaigners said.
At least five of the hunger strikers have reportedly been hospitalized after refusing food for weeks. Two of the strikers, Amu Gib and Qesser Zuhrah, have refused food for 48 days, while another, Heba Muraisi, has refused for 47.
Ella Moulsdale, a fellow activist and friend of Zurah's, told ITV: "It's very hard to watch her walk right now. She has almost no energy to, so she walks extremely slowly, with her back hunched in pain. She still wants me to hug her, but she can't hug back at all."
"Any day after day 35 is considered final and severe, when your body essentially starts to eat itself," Moulsdale said. "Her body is clearly working overtime, and it doesn't have enough fuel to keep her alive."
The eight hunger strikers are among 33 people arrested in connection with two direct actions against entities they argue are taking part in Israel’s human rights violations in Palestine.
Four were arrested for alleged involvement in a 2024 break-in at a facility in Filton for Elbit Systems, Israel's largest arms manufacturer and the primary supplier of weapons and surveillance technology used in the genocide in Gaza and Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
After breaking into the facility, activists are accused of having dismantled military equipment, including quadcopter drones, which have been used to kill and maim Palestinians in Gaza, sometimes reportedly playing the sounds of crying women and babies to lure them out of hiding. The activists also allegedly destroyed other weapons systems, computers, and manufacturing equipment, totaling over £1 million. In September, Elbit quietly closed down the site.
Four others are accused of trespassing at a British Royal Air Force base in Norton, where they reportedly sprayed red paint on the engines of two aircraft. According to one report, since December 2023, the RAF has conducted over 1,000 hours worth of surveillance over Gaza, communicating intelligence to the Israeli military.
The Labour Party government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, added Palestine Action to a list of banned "terrorist" organizations in July, which made membership in or support for the group a criminal offense.
According to Amnesty International, more than 600 people were arrested for peacefully supporting the group between November 18 and 29. In October, over 500 protesters were arrested on a single day, mostly for holding signs calling on British authorities to lift the ban.
Since the ban went into effect, more than 2,700 people have been arrested across the UK over support for or involvement with Palestine Action. The UK has seen a more than 660% increase in "terrorism" related arrests since September as a result of the ban.
Dr. James Smith, an emergency physician and lecturer at University College London, told ITV that the activists on hunger strike need specialist medical care that they are not receiving.
According to Smith, 200 members of the British Medical Association wrote a letter to the organization's leadership "to sound the alarm" about "substandard monitoring and treatment" for the prisoners.
"The hunger strikers are at imminent risk of irreversible damage to their bodies, and of death," Smith said. “It is my view, as [a National Health Service] doctor, that the complexity of the hunger strikers’ care needs must now be managed with regular specialist input if not continuous monitoring in hospital.”
"Put simply, the hunger strikers are dying,” he added at a press conference Thursday. “They are all now at a critical stage.”
Earlier this week, a group of 51 members of parliament and peers wrote a separate letter urging Lammy to meet with lawyers for the eight prisoners. UK Prison Minister Lord James Timpson dismissed the request, saying he would not meet with any of the prisoners or their attorneys: "I don't treat any prisoners any differently from any other," he said.
On Wednesday, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is now an independent MP, wrote Lammy another letter asking if he shared the minister's satisfaction, and reiterating that the eight prisoners are "at serious risk of death" amid "regular breaches of prison conditions and prison rules."
"The Ministry of Justice is still refusing to meet with the lawyers or families of hunger strikers being held on remand," Corbyn said in a post on social media. "This is a shambolic dereliction of duty. I have written to David Lammy, again, imploring him to do the right thing before it is too late."
Starmer responded to Corbyn's criticisms himself in Parliament that same day: “He will appreciate there are rules and procedures in place in relation to hunger strikes, and we’re following those rules and procedures."
The hunger strikers have demanded immediate bail and the right to a fair trial. They have also called for an end to the censorship of their communications, a lift on the ban against Palestine Action, and the closing of all UK sites run by Elbit.
Asked if her friend Zurah would continue to refuse food even as she reaches deadly stages, Moulsdale said, "That's ultimately her decision to make."
"I hope it doesn't have to come to that because these demands are very, very simple," she said. "They are asking the British government to uphold international and national law."
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'Another Backdoor Deal'? Billionaire Trump Ally Larry Ellison at Center of TikTok Spin-Off
"TikTok has officially been sold to the worst people on Earth," wrote one activist, "and no this is not an Onion headline."
Dec 19, 2025
A group of investors including Oracle—a software giant led by billionaire Trump ally and GOP megadonor Larry Ellison—is set to control TikTok's US operations under a spin-off agreement formalized Thursday, raising concerns of undue political influence on the short-form video app used by around 170 million Americans.
TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, signed a binding deal under which Oracle, the private equity group Silver Lake, the Abu Dhabi-based firm MGX, and other investors will hold an 80.1% stake in the newly formed US TikTok entity.
NPR reported that under the agreement, "TikTok's US algorithm will be retrained with only Americans' data" and "content moderation rules around what is permitted and what is not will be set by the new investor-controlled entity."
The deal, which stems from an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in September, averts a TikTok ban in the US.
Last year, former President Joe Biden signed widely criticized legislation that would have banned the platform in the US if ByteDance did not sell it. The measure was inserted into broader legislation that included billions in military aid for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel.
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who voted for the package that included the potential TikTok ban, called for close scrutiny of the new agreement. Warren pointed to the Trump administration's approval earlier this year of the merger of CBS News owner Paramount and Skydance—a company run by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison.
"First Paramount/CBS and now TikTok. Trump wants to hand over even more control of what you watch to his billionaire buddies," Warren wrote in a social media post on Thursday. "Americans deserve to know if the president struck another backdoor deal for this billionaire takeover of TikTok."
Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, wrote in response to the deal that "TikTok has officially been sold to the worst people on Earth and no this is not an Onion headline."
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