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For Immediate Release
November, 29 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Ariel Gold | CODEPINK national co-director | ariel@codepink.org | 510 599-5330
Medea Benjamin | CODEPINK co-founder | medea.benjamin@gmail.com 415 235-6517
Over 80 Organizations Urge Biden to Prioritize Ending U.S. Involvement in Yemen War
Today, over 80 organizations representing millions of people across the United States sent a joint letter to President-elect Joe Biden with an urgent request that he prioritize ending U.S. support for the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen, as he indicated he would during his campaign. The letter, from groups ranging from foreign policy organizations to faith-based groups, outlines the specific measures Biden should take through executive powers and by working with Congress.
WASHINGTON
Today, over 80 organizations representing millions of people across the United States sent a joint letter to President-elect Joe Biden with an urgent request that he prioritize ending U.S. support for the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen, as he indicated he would during his campaign. The letter, from groups ranging from foreign policy organizations to faith-based groups, outlines the specific measures Biden should take through executive powers and by working with Congress.
Acknowledging that when Biden comes into office, he will surely get pushback from those who want to keep the U.S. involved in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the signers of the letter felt it necessary to show that there is a broad constituency clamoring for an end to nearly five years of participation in this catastrophic war and for the U.S. to help the Yemeni people rebuild their lives.
"Before coronavirus, Yemen was already experiencing the largest humanitarian crisis on the planet," the letter reads, pointing out that the Saudi-led bombing campaign and blockade of ports has decimated the country's healthcare infrastructure and severely damaged access to clean water, sanitary systems, and nutrition. "Ending U.S participation would signal to millions of Yemenis living in Yemen and thousands of Yemeni-Americans who worry about their families in Yemen that weapon sales and geopolitical chess moves are not more important than their lives and the lives of their loved ones," the letter continued. "It would be a monumental first achievement for your administration that would be praised by Americans across the ideological spectrum."
"American involvement in this brutal catastrophe is shameful and must come to an end. Pulling the U.S. out should be among Biden's top priorities for his first days in office." -- Ariel Gold, CODEPINK national co-director.
Biden is given an opportunity to correct the wrong policy of supporting the Saudi war on Yemen in 2015 under the Obama administration. I hope that he now helps end the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, one that he helped create. -- Aisha Jumaan, Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation
"It's time for America to reclaim its moral compass and withdraw completely from any involvement in the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen." -- Hal Ginsgurb, Our Revolution
"As military veterans, we know the true cost of war. The victims of the armed Saud- led conflict in Yemen include starving children and countless people suffering from COVID-19. It is shameful to have American support for atrocities that only benefit weapon industries and Saudi royalty. If the United States will have credibility as a stabilizing leader in the international community, we need to start by prioritizing humanitarian aid and stop enabling warmongering." - Garett Reppenhagen former US Army Sniper, Executive Director of Veterans For Peace
"The American people have been calling on the United States to end all support for the Saudi-UAE coalition's disastrous war in Yemen that serves as the worst humanitarian crisis, said Yasmine Taeb, Senior Fellow at Center for International Policy. "The U.S. needs to prioritize human rights in our foreign policy and must stop providing arms to authoritarian or repressive governments that systematically violate human rights."
While millions of Americans recently finished their Thanksgiving feasts, millions of Yemenis will face famine without action by the new Congress and Administration. The new government should rapidly stop backing the Saudi-led bombing of Yemen -- begun under the Obama-Biden Administration, and ensure an end to the de facto blockade which is starving the Yemeni people. Through the recently-introduced War Powers Resolution, Congress is once again asserting its will to stop U.S. participation in this unconstitutional war. The Biden Administration should stop all participation in the war -- including intelligence sharing -- and refocus on true U.S. security interests rather than the whims of the famine-causing Saudi dictatorship." -- Isaac Evans-Frantz, Action Corp
Read the full letter here.
Signers:
Action Corps . American Friends Service Committee . Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain . Avaaz . Ayada Leads . Beyond the Bomb . Brooklyn For Peace . Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security . Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community . CAPA DePaul . Center for Economic and Policy Research . Center for International Policy . Chicago Area Peace Action . Clearinghouse on Women's Issues . CODEPINK . Daily Kos . Demand Progress . Democracy for America . Democracy for the Middle East Now (DAWN) . Episcopal Peace Fellowship . Fellowship of Reconciliation . Feminist Majority Foundation . First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, MI . Franciscan Action Network . Freedom Forward . Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) . Friends of Sabeel North America . Grassroots Global Justice . Health Alliance International . Historians for Peace and Democracy . Indiana Center for Middle East Peace . Institute for Policy Studies, National Priorities Project . Institute for Policy Studies, New Internationalism Project . Interfaith Community Sanctuary . Islamophobia Studies Center . Israel Palestine Mission Network PCUSA . Isuroon (Strong Women, Strong Communities) . Jetpac Resource Center . Jewish Voice for Peace Action . Just Foreign Policy . Justice for All . Justice Is Global . Kairos Center . Mass Peace Action . MADRE . MPower Change . NorCalSabeel . Organization for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain . Our Revolution . Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace . PAX Christi USA . Peace Action . PEACEWORKERS . Presbyterian Church USA . Progressive Democrats of America . Project Blueprint . Project South . Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft . Raytheon anti-war Campaign . Rethinking Foreign Policy . Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment . Revolving Door Project . RootsAction.org . Saudi American Justice Project . September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows . Sisters of Mercy of the Americas - Justice Team . The International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) . The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society . Tunisian United Network . United African Congress . United for Peace and Justice . U.S. Labor Against Racism and War . Veterans For Peace . WESPAC Foundation, Inc. . West Suburban Peace Coalition . Western New York Peace Center . Win Without War . Women's International League for Peace and Freedom-US . World BEYOND War . Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation . Yemeni Alliance Committee
CODEPINK is a women-led grassroots organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs.
(818) 275-7232LATEST NEWS
'Each of These Is a Murder': Trump Admin Conducts 3rd Deadly Boat Strike in 5 Days
"Drug suspects should be arrested and prosecuted, not summarily executed," a human rights expert said.
May 09, 2026
The Trump administration continued its illegal bombing of small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific on Friday, killing two and leaving one survivor in its third such strike in five days.
US Southern Command announced the attack on social media, claiming that "intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations."
"Under [President Donald] Trump's illegal orders, the US military conducted its third boat strike in five days against supposed drug smugglers, killing at least two. Each of these is a murder. Drug suspects should be arrested and prosecuted, not summarily executed," former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth wrote on social media Saturday in response to the news.
Friday's strike marks the 57th by the Trump administration and raises the death toll from the boat-strike campaign, which experts say is illegal even if every boat targeted is ferrying drugs, to 192.
"Really absurdly, there’s been no impact on flows of drugs toward the United States."
"What do you call a US citizen who smuggles drugs, SOUTHCOM? A 'narco-terrorist'?" social media user Andrew Marinelli said in response to the Southern Command announcement. "If a US citizen [allegedly] drove drugs into Canada and they blew him away with a drone strike, would you accept it?"
The administration has also not provided evidence for its claims that the boats belong to drug traffickers, and relatives of the victims say at least some of those killed were simply on the water to fish.
Friday's strike was notable in that it left behind a survivor and that US Southern Command said it had activated the US Coast Guard to conduct a search and rescue operation.
The announcement may reflect a response to backlash after news broke last year that, in the administration's first such strike, commanders had ordered a vessel bombed twice when it became clear there were survivors, in keeping with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth's directive to "kill everybody."
Despite scrutiny, the campaign has continued and even escalated in the past few weeks. There have been three such bombings since the beginning of May, according to The Intercept: One on May 4 in the Caribbean that killed two, one on May 5 in the Pacific that killed three, and the Pacific strike on May 8 that killed two. The reported survivor remains missing.
While the Trump administration claims the strikes have dramatically reduced the flow of illegal drugs into the US, evidence reveals this is not the case, according to an Intercept analysis published May 4.
For example, Trump claimed that drugs entering the US by sea had decreased by 97%, but the administration's own data contradicts this claim, retired Rear Adm. William Baumgartner told The Intercept.
Adam Isacson, the director for defense oversight at human rights group Washington Office on Latin America, said, "Really absurdly, there’s been no impact on flows of drugs toward the United States,” noting that Customs and Border Protection seized 6,000 pounds more cocaine at all US borders in the seven months following the strikes than in the seven months before.
As Sanho Tree, who directs the Institute for Policy Studies' Drug Policy Project, put it, "It wouldn’t be the first time this administration just made up something out of whole cloth."
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Alabama, South Carolina Join GOP Push to Dilute Black, Democratic Districts
"Across the South, states are rushing to suppress Black voting power now that they mistakenly believe they can get away with it," one advocate said.
May 09, 2026
In the latest fallout from the Supreme Court's further weakening of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais on April 29, Alabama and South Carolina on Friday both took steps to further gerrymandering plans that would reduce representation for Black and Democratic voters in their states.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation on Friday that would ignore the results of May 19 primaries and hold a new election if federal courts agree to rescind the creation of a second near-Black majority congressional district in the state.
At the same time, the South Carolina legislature held a meeting to consider creating new maps that could grant the Republican Party the chance to win all of the state's seven seats in the US House of Representatives by redrawing the state's only majority-Black district.
“I was out there in 1965 marching for the right to vote, and now we are back here in 2026 doing the same thing,” Betty White Boynton, who joined a protest outside the Alabama Statehouse on Friday, told The Associated Press.
“What happened here today is that we were set back as a people to the days of Reconstruction.”
The moves, with risk eroding the gains of the civil rights movement, also come in the midst of a redistricting battle set off when President Donald Trump called on GOP-led states to redraw their maps to help his party retain control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections
In Alabama, the Supreme Court case Allen v. Milligan led to the creation of a second district with close to a Black majority and the election of Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures. The new map would leave Black voters with a chance to elect a representative in just 1 of the state's 7 districts, despite the fact that they make up 30% of the population.
“Despite remaining under a court order that bars Alabama from redrawing its congressional map and that voters have already cast ballots in the state’s congressional primary elections, Alabama Republicans are desperately and shamelessly moving to pave the way for reversion to a map that robs Black voters of equal access to representation in the US House," John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement.
Bisognano continued: "What is happening in Alabama is not happening in a vacuum. Across the South, states are rushing to suppress Black voting power now that they mistakenly believe they can get away with it. The Alabama legislature’s fevered rush to diminish Black voting power in their state is clear proof that protections once afforded under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act remain vital still today. Alabamians across the state are rising up in protest to this immoral power grab—their voices must not be silenced.”
After the Republican-majority Alabama legislature passed the bill on Friday, state Sen. Rodger Smitherman (D-18) said, “What happened here today is that we were set back as a people to the days of Reconstruction,” according to AP.
However, it is unclear how successful the Republican effort will be in Alabama, given that the Supreme Court explicitly said in Louisiana v. Callais that its decision did not apply to Alabama, as Figures pointed out at a town hall Friday evening. Also on Friday, a three-judge panel refused to lift an injunction on changing the state's maps, meaning the decision will rest with the Supreme Court on Monday, May 11.
"I feel pretty confident that the lines will stay the same in the immediate future, but it has not changed the efforts of Republicans here in the state of Alabama and across the country," Figures said, as Alabama Reflector reported.
In South Carolina on Friday, legislators held a meeting that would be the first step toward redrawing their districts to eliminate the one currently represented by Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn. While lawmakers agreed that the Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais would allow for the redistricting, some questioned the wisdom and morality of the act.
“I agree if the law allows us to do it, then we can do It,” state Rep. Justin Bamberg (D-90) said. “But I can slap somebody’s mama and it’s not the right thing to do.”
Bisognano also linked the South Carolina plan to Louisiana v. Callais:
Following the Supreme Court’s shameful decision to gut the Voting Rights Act, South Carolina Republicans are now racing to be second to push through an immoral gerrymander that would demolish the lone congressional district that gives South Carolina’s Black voters a meaningful opportunity for representation in the US House.
This gerrymander is a deliberate attempt by South Carolina Republicans to tear apart a long-standing Black-opportunity district and diminish their vote by spreading Black voters into six districts that stretch over a hundred miles in every direction. On this gerrymander, all South Carolinians would lose. South Carolinians deserve maps that respect communities of interest and protect the fundamental right to vote.
Rep. Clyburn, meanwhile, stood up for his district and criticized state Republicans for prioritizing loyalty to Trump over loyalty to voters.
"Republicans are trying to break apart South Carolina’s 6th District. Not because voters demanded it, but because Donald Trump requested it," Clyburn wrote on social media Thursday.
He continued: "This fight is bigger than one district. It’s about whether our democracy belongs to the people, or to politicians who change the rules when they don’t like the results. We cannot let them succeed."
The Alabama and South Carolina developments capped a dramatic week for national redistricting battles. On Thursday, the Tennessee House voted to break up the state's only Black congressional district. The Senate followed suit, and Gov. Bill Lee promptly signed the new map into law.
On Friday, the Virginia state Supreme Court dealt a blow to Democratic efforts to counteract the new Republican maps, striking down a voter-approved redistricting in Virginia that would favor Democrats.
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'Corrupt and Unprecedented': Immigration Board Fast-Tracked Khalil Deportation Decision
They put me through a sham immigration process while guaranteeing the outcome in advance," Mahmoud Khalil said.
May 09, 2026
An immigration court decision that could hasten the deportation of Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil was marked by irregularities, including unusual speed and the recusals of several judges, The New York Times reported Friday.
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which is housed in the Department of Justice (DOJ) but is legally enjoined to make independent decisions, ruled on April 9 that Khalil could be deported from the US. However, documents obtained by the Times show that the case was fast-tracked in a manner that experts say is unusual.
"This is the due process the administration is offering me, corrupt and unprecedented," Khalil posted on social media Friday in response to the Times' reporting.
Khalil, a student leader of Columbia University protests against the Gaza genocide, was an early target of the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech when he was abducted by Department of Homeland Security agents while returning to his New York home in March 2025. Despite being a permanent resident married to a US citizen, Khalil was detained in Louisiana for over three months, where he missed the birth of his son.
“In all my decades as an immigration lawyer, I have never seen such a baseless and politically motivated decision."
Despite the BIA's ruling, Khalil cannot be deported while his separate habeas corpus case proceeds through federal courts. However, the Times' reporting raises questions about how fairly he is being treated by the Trump administration and how quickly he could face removal if the federal case falls through.
"This story proves that the Trump administration's treatment of my case has always been corrupt and retaliatory. They put me through a sham immigration process while guaranteeing the outcome in advance," Khalil wrote.
According to the Times:
The case was considered high priority even before the board officially received it. A note from an internal case-tracking file from June said that, even though Mr. Khalil had been released several days earlier, the case was to be handled as if he were still in detention, which would speed it along.
"Please process as quickly as possible,” said another note, from October. Another document shows that the court’s chair—its highest ranking member—oversaw the case from early on.
The decision was made nine days after all the paperwork was submitted, a timeline that Biden BIA appointee Homero López called "unprecedented," as the board often takes years to decide similar cases.
“It’s an insane turnaround, particularly for such a high-profile case on a novel legal issue,” López, who was fired under President Donald Trump, told the Times.
At the same time, people familiar with the situation told the Times that at least three judges had recused themselves from the case, one before it was decided and the others once it became clear it would be published, meaning it would be considered precedent setting.
Former board judge Andrea Sáenz, also fired by Trump, told the Times that judges often recuse themselves because they have somehow been involved with the case before it is appealed.
“How many people touched this case when the immigration judge was handling it the first time?” Sáenz asked.
Former DOJ official David McConnell, who has experience with the immigration appeals process, said that both the quick processing and the recusals were "very unusual." However, he added this did not mean the board necessarily did anything wrong.
However, the BIA's decision was heavily criticized by Khalil's legal team in April, as it upholds Secretary of State Marco Rubio's determination that Khalil could be deported because his activism posed a threat to US foreign policy, which a federal judge in New Jersey said was "likely" unconstitutional and could not be the basis for his detention or deportation. It also justified removal on the grounds that Khalil omitted certain details on green card paperwork, but the government only added those charges after Rubio's foreign policy gambit was challenged.
“In all my decades as an immigration lawyer, I have never seen such a baseless and politically motivated decision. The BIA's decision has absolutely no support in the record, violates a federal court order, and we’ll be fighting it until the end,” Khalil's lead lawyer Marc Van Der Hout said in a statement when the decision was first issued. “Federal courts have already agreed that Mahmoud was targeted for his speech, and there is likely much more evidence of the government’s unlawful retaliation that has yet to come to light. This is a clear continuation of the administration’s retaliation against Mahmoud for exercising his First Amendment rights.”
Responding to the new reporting on Friday, Van Der Hout told the Times that the case's handling suggests it “has been controlled from Day 1 by higher-ups in the administration.”
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