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us department of state
House Dems Demand Trump, Rubio Free Sumud Flotilla Americans Held by Israel
"The US has an obligation to protect its citizens abroad and must act immediately."
Oct 06, 2025
Congressman Ro Khanna and two dozen other California Democrats wrote to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, urging them to demand that Israel release the Americans it detained while intercepting the Global Sumud Flotilla before the boats could reach the Gaza Strip.
More than 450 people from over 40 countries joined the peaceful mission to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians. Among them were at least 21 US citizens who "remain in Israeli detention," according to the letter from lawmakers, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The lawmakers highlighted the Californians who are detained: Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler, Tommy Marcus, Geraldine Ramirez, and Logan Hollarsmith.
They also emphasized that "the US has an obligation to protect its citizens abroad and must act immediately."
"We call on you to work for the immediate and safe release, including arranging the logistics of a plane to ensure the speedy recovery, of US citizens who were on the flotilla and are still being held in Israeli prisons," the lawmakers wrote to Rubio and Trump—who last week told Israel to "immediately stop" bombing Gaza.
Despite the directive from Trump—whose government gives Israel billions of dollars a year in military aid, even as it faces mounting allegations of genocide—Israel continues to bomb Gaza. The US lawmakers' letter stresses that in the Palestinian territory, "the humanitarian situation is growing more dire by the day," with the entire population food insecure and most housing destroyed.
"We call for humanitarian aid to be sent to the people of Gaza," states the letter—sent on the eve of the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on Israel, which has responded by slaughtering at least tens of thousands of Palestinians.
As of Monday, Israel had deported 341 of the 479 detained flotilla activists—including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who told reporters Monday that "I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment," but urged people around the world to focus on the genocide in Gaza.
"I will never, ever comprehend how humans can be so evil that you would deliberately starve millions of people living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades and decades of suffocating oppression, apartheid, occupation," she said.
Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) on Monday expressed concern about "reports of mistreatment of the American citizens detained by Israel for participating in the Gaza aid flotilla," and urged their immediate release and safe return to the United States.
Jeremy Corbyn, a member of the UK Parliament who used to lead the Labour Party, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel have also publicly called for the release of Adler and the other flotilla members who remain detained by Israel.
Like the California Democrats, the US advocacy group Defending Rights & Dissent also wrote to Rubio on Monday, and specifically pointed to Adler, military veteran and podcaster Greg Stoker, and Drop Site News journalist Alex Colston.
"The State Department has a responsibility to defend the rights of our citizens abroad, especially when they are being subjected to violations of fundamental rights by a foreign government," wrote Defending Rights & Dissent. "Disturbingly, we have received reports that US consular assistance has been minimal or nonexistent. This is in stark contrast to other nations that have forcefully advocated for the human rights of their citizens and secured their expedited release."
After speaking with Hollarsmith's mother, Sidney Hollar, KQED reported Monday:
Hollar said she heard from the US Embassy in Jerusalem early Monday that Hollarsmith and the other US citizens still in detention were expected to be deported in the next 24 hours. She said that she was told they would be flown out of the country, but not given information about where they would land.
From there, the US would "loan them money for a hotel and for a flight home," she said. She called the prospect "outrageous."
"We can't fund a little chartered flight to get our US citizens, including US vets, home?" Hollar said.
"The Americans are being punished by the American government for delivering humanitarian aid," she said.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to social media on Monday to put pressure on the State Department.
"Last week, I wrote to Marco Rubio urging protection of Americans on the Sumud Flotilla. Since then, Israel has detained dozens of activists, including Americans, for trying to feed starving Gazans. This is unacceptable," she said. "Marco Rubio, you must negotiate their safe return home."
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Trans Plaintiffs Call On Supreme Court to Reject Trump's 'Discriminatory' Passport Restrictions
"The administration’s attempts to deny that right to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people has no basis in law or policy," said one lawyer.
Oct 06, 2025
A group of transgender plaintiffs is calling on the US Supreme Court to reject the Trump administration's request to lift a judge's order blocking what they describe as a "discriminatory" passport policy.
The US State Department earlier this year announced that it would bar transgender Americans from changing the gender listed on their passports from the gender assigned to them at birth. Several transgender plaintiffs, represented by attorneys from the ACLU, quickly filed for an injunction against the policy, which was granted by a lower court and upheld by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.
In asking the Supreme Court to reject the Trump administration's request for a stay, the ACLU attorneys argue that the passport policy "irrationally undermines the very purpose of passports—identifying a US citizen when they travel" and also is "motivated by antitransgender animus."
The ACLU attorneys are asking for the injunction to be upheld so that transgender and nonbinary Americans can continue to either change the designated gender on their passports or receive a passport with a gender marked as "X."
Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts, said that the injunction should be upheld because the administration's policy would "cause immediate, irreparable harm" if it came into effect.
"Transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans rely on accurate identity documents to travel with safety, privacy, and dignity," Rossman said. "We are asking the Supreme Court to reject this request for a stay and preserve the injunction issued below so our clients will be spared profound disruption and distress while their case proceeds."
Li Nowlin-Sohl, staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project, urged the Supreme Court to follow the lead of the lower courts, which "made abundantly clear how discriminatory and baseless the State Department's new policy is and the harm it poses for hundreds of thousands of people like our clients."
"People across the country depend on identity documents that accurately reflect their identity—who they are in their workplaces, their schools, and their communities," Nowlin-Sohl emphasized. "The administration’s attempts to deny that right to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people has no basis in law or policy, and we’ll continue to fight this policy until it is permanently defeated."
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State Dept. Official Signals Review of Foreigners 'Praising, Rationalizing, or Making Light of' Kirk Killing
"The US government seeking to punish those who make light of the incident is a complete betrayal of the First Amendment and spits in the face of the principle of free speech and debate," said one lawyer.
Sep 11, 2025
"So much for free speech."
That's how multiple social media users responded Thursday after a top official signaled on the platform X that the US Department of State will review foreigners' remarks on the Wednesday killing of Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk, a key ally of Republican President Donald Trump.
"In light of yesterday's horrific assassination of a leading political figure, I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country," Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote Thursday morning.
"I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action," Landau added. "Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so that the State Department can protect the American people."
Lawyers swiftly stressed that the comments Landau is aiming to track down would be "fully protected speech under the First Amendment" to the US Constitution.
American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick said, "You can agree that it's a tragedy that a man was assassinated and also believe that the US government seeking to punish those who make light of the incident is a complete betrayal of the First Amendment and spits in the face of the principle of free speech and debate."
"It is appalling to see US government officials trying to police the speech of people outside the US and to direct consular officers to deny and strip visas from anyone who made a joke about Charlie Kirk's assassination—and rely on X for reports," he continued. "The First Amendment applies to the federal government; 'Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech.' Directing people to have a benefit denied and potentially be deported over a joke in very poor taste violates the First Amendment."
After one X user suggested visitors to the United States don't have the same rights as citizens, Reichlin-Melnick explained that "the First Amendment is a restriction on government action that applies even when the government seeks to restrict the speech of noncitizens. If you'd like, I can cite you dozens of court cases confirming that noncitizens enjoy First Amendment protections."
Kirk and his allies—including Trump—have long framed the late 31-year-old as a free speech supporter. A lengthy pop-up message about his death on the Turning Point USA website even says that "Charlie has become America's greatest martyr to the freedom of speech he so adored."
In response to Axios' reporting on Landau's threat, Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, sarcastically said: "Yes, this definitely seems like an appropriate and constitutional use of the State Department's surveillance authorities. And definitely a fitting way to honor a person whom Trump admin officials have labeled a First Amendment hero."
pretty wild that it so quickly became normalized that immigrants don’t have even basic free speech rightswww.axios.com/2025/09/11/c...
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— Olivia Messer (@oliviamesser.bsky.social) September 11, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Writer Miriam Elder similarly quipped, "The free speech government honoring the free speech martyr."
Trump also publicly fancies himself a protector of free speech, but since returning to office in January, he has targeted law firms that represent clients and causes he opposes, news outlets whose coverage he disagrees with, and foreign students who criticize Israel's US-backed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Although elected officials across the US political spectrum have condemned Kirk's killing and his unidentified shooter remains at large, Trump claimed in a Wednesday night speech that the rhetoric of the "radical left" is "directly responsible" for his death.
The president also pledged that his administration "will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country."
While Kirk's fatal shooting has sparked widespread condemnation of all political violence, the far-right crusader's longtime critics have also highlighted his attacks on marginalized people, promotion of misinformation and conspiracy theories, and strong opposition to stricter gun laws—including his assertion that "it's worth to have a cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment."
Landau wasn't the only key official making threats about commentary on Kirk's killing. Congressman Clay Higgins (R-La.) said on X early Thursday that "I'm going to use congressional authority and every influence with Big Tech platforms to mandate immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk."
"If they ran their mouth with their smartass hatred celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man who dedicated his whole life to delivering respectful conservative truth into the hearts of liberal enclave universities, armed only with a Bible and a microphone and a Constitution... those profiles must come down," he said. "So, I'm going to lean forward in this fight, demanding that Big Tech have zero tolerance for violent political hate content, the user to be banned from ALL PLATFORMS FOREVER."
"I'm also going after their business licenses and permitting, their businesses will be blacklisted aggressively, they should be kicked from every school, and their driver's licenses should be revoked," he added. "I'm basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk's assassination. I'm starting that today. That is all."
Several X users responded with examples of Higgins' long history of problematic commentary.
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) CEO Greg Lukianoff told Higgins: "No. The state may not coerce private institutions to censor speech that the state itself cannot censor under the First Amendment. Besides, you are not safer for knowing LESS about what people really think."
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