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Drew Bush, 202/429-7441, drew_bush@tws.org
Our public lands represent a heritage
that belongs to all Americans, one that is critical to safeguarding clean water
and air and reducing carbon emissions. The Bush administration has treated
these lands as if they belong to industry. And they're not done
yet.
With almost three months left in office,
the administration will be pushing hard to accomplish as much of its agenda as
possible. Political appointees are likely to be finalizing land management
plans, regulations, and policy changes that could severely damage our
nation's public lands for decades to come. Yet few Americans are aware of
these threats. On some of these issues there may still be time to hold off the
irreparable harm if citizens learn about them and take action.
1. Administration Rolling Back Protections for Pristine Roadless Lands
The Bush administration has circumvented
the Roadless Area Conservation Rule by adopting an Idaho-specific version that
opens up millions of acres of roadless national forest land to more road building
and logging than was possible under the earlier rule. Idaho
has more roadless national forest lands than any other state in the lower 48
and, thanks to the Bush administration, Idaho
now has weaker protection for its roadless lands than any other state. Of
immediate concern is the Smoky Canyon Phosphate Mine near Yellowstone
National Park, which is already a
designated Superfund clean-up site due to selenium pollution that threatens
streams and Yellowstone cutthroat trout
populations. The mine expansion would entail road construction within the
pristine Sage Creek and Meade
Peak roadless areas. In
rushing to complete this project, the Bush administration is also pressuring
agency officials to convert biological assessments from "likely to
adversely affect" certain animals to an opinion that the mine expansion
is "not likely to adversely affect" listed species.
[Craig Gehrke,
208/343-8153,
craig_gehrke@tws.org]
2. Commercial Oil Shale Leasing Plans Finalized
Without Opportunity for Protest, Appeals
We expect the Bush administration to
finalize commercial oil shale leasing and development regulations while
also amending 12 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) resource management
plans. They will become final over objections from the Environmental
Protection Agency, governors and local elected officials, who are concerned
about inadequate environmental analysis. BLM seems deaf to admissions from the
oil shale industry that a safe and efficient technology for squeezing oil from
shale won't exist for years or even decades. Without knowing which oil
shale technologies will prove viable and what the associated costs and impacts
will be, it is impossible to develop regulations that contain appropriate
protections for the environment, appropriate royalty rates to ensure a fair
return to taxpayers, and a financial safety net for affected communities. In
coming weeks, the record of decision on the plans will be signed by
Assistant Secretary Stephen Allred, a highly unusual act that effectively cuts
off opportunity for the public to file formal appeals with the Interior Board of
Land Appeals.
[Chase Huntley,
202/429-7431, chase_huntley@tws.org]
3.
Unilateral Proposal Strips Congressional Committees of Power to Protect Lands
Neither Congress nor future secretaries
of the interior would be able to protect public lands from mineral activities
in cases of emergency, if Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne succeeds in
unilaterally repealing a federal statute enacted under the Federal Land Policy
and Management Act. Responding to the threat that thousands of uranium mining
claims pose to Grand Canyon
National Park, the House
Natural Resources Committee passed a resolution last summer asking Kempthorne
to exclude areas of public land surrounding the park from mining. Instead, the
administration unilaterally issued a proposal to withdraw such power from the
House Natural Resources Committee, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, and future interior secretaries. The proposal provided only a 15-day
public comment period (which closed on October 27), and it is expected to be
finalized before the Bush administration leaves office.
[Dave Alberswerth, 202/429-2695, dave_alberswerth@tws.org]
4. Concealed
Weapons to Be Allowed in Our National Parks and Wildlife Refuges
A new rule, to be finalized by the end of
the year despite immense opposition, would dramatically change the character of
our national parks and national wildlife refuges by overturning a
long-standing, functional firearm policy. Recognizing that parks and refuges
represent unique American landscapes, conserve critical habitat for wildlife,
and welcome millions of visitors each year, the Department of the Interior
prohibited loaded, assembled firearms on these public lands in the 1980s in
order to prevent wildlife poaching and protect cultural resources and
visitors. The recent proposal to allow loaded, concealed weapons would
not only be contrary to established rules, but would change the culture of our
national icons. A survey of present and retired park and refuge personnel
indicates that over 75 percent believe that the proposed rule would reduce the agencies'
ability to accomplish their conservation missions.
[Kristen
Brengel, 202/429-2694, kristen_brengel@tws.org]
5. Major
Fishery of Bristol Bay, Alaska Threatened by Oil and Gas Drilling
Bristol Bay has the world's largest
wild run of sockeye salmon, provides 40 percent of the U.S. fish catch, and generates nearly
$500 million in yearly fishing revenue. Yet the Interior Department's
Minerals
Management Service included this area in its proposed 2007-2012 plan for Outer
Continental Shelf oil and gas drilling without properly examining the
environmental impacts of such activity. President Bush set the stage for
drilling in Bristol Bay in 2007 when he lifted
an executive withdrawal put in place by his father to protect this significant
resource. The draft plan calls for two lease sales in the North
Aleutian Basin,
which includes the federal offshore waters of Bristol Bay and the eastern Bering Sea, in 2010 and 2012. Because of the potential for catastrophic damage, the
government should conduct extensive scientific studies to fully understand the
ecosystem and anticipate the potential consequences of development. Oil and gas
development in a region already compromised by climate change would jeopardize
habitat vital to wild salmon, polar bears, walrus, and other wildlife.
[Eleanor
Huffines, 907/272-9453x103, eleanor_huffines@tws.org]
6.
New Forest Service Directive Allows Timber
Harvesting on Potential Wilderness
The Forest Service has proposed changes
to its directive guiding vegetation management in forest plans. As a result,
there could be much more timber harvesting than has been permitted under
existing plans, particularly on lands once deemed unsuitable for timber
harvest. Under the Bush administration, the Forest Service has attempted to
make these rules changes for several years-with a federal court throwing
them out in 2007 after a lawsuit. The interim directive (ID_1909.12-2008-1 in
the Forest Service Handbook) could affect citizen-proposed wilderness and
roadless areas, depending on the outcome of legal challenges. It also allows
forest managers to allow logging without any intent to reforest the land,
jeopardizing these forest ecosystems. In an attempt to push its goals, the
administration has broken larger proposals like this into smaller pieces in an
attempt to escape notice in the final days of the administration.
[Mary Krueger,
978/342-2159, mary_krueger@tws.org]
7. Reagan-Era
Rule Protecting Steams From Coal Mine Waste to be Rescinded
We expect the Bush administration to
rescind a 1983 regulation adopted during the Reagan administration that
protects streams from the dumping of wastes from coal strip mining. The
current Office of Surface Mining rule prohibits wastes from coal mines from
being deposited in streams. The Bush administration proposal would
rescind this protection for streams, allowing for the further expansion of a
coal mining technique known as "mountain-top removal," where mining
companies literally blow up the tops of mountains to reach coal seams and
dispose of the waste rock in stream valleys.
[Dave Alberswerth, 202/429-2695, dave_alberswerth@tws.org]
8. Finalized
Transmission Corridor Plans Lock in Dirty Fuel Future
Corridors designated for power lines and
separate avenues for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines prioritize dirty fuel sources
such as coal at the expense of renewable energies. They also threaten places
such as Arches National
Park in Utah
and the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge on the Arizona/California border. The Department
of Energy wants to finalize parts of the corridors designation under sections
368 and 1221 of Energy Policy Act of 2005 despite agencies' inability to
coordinate transmission and pipeline corridor designations. Corridor
designations should be limited to reasonable sizes, and should balance
protection of wildlands and ecological values with the need for additional
energy transmission capacity. Most also need to be revisited to ensure that they
include renewable sources of energy. The rush to judgment will preclude
adequate consideration of these issues.
[Nada Culver,
303/650-5818x117, nada_culver@tws.org]
9. Yellowstone National
Park's Winter Plan Falls Short, Endangers Park
Resources
The number of
snowmobiles allowed into Yellowstone
National Park under a new
proposal by the Bush administration continues to ignore the Park
Service's scientific findings. The Bush administration this week put
forward a new temporary plan to guide winter access, following a court decision
that its 2007 authorization of continued snowmobile use failed to protect Yellowstone's air quality, quiet, and wildlife. The
new plan ensures that Yellowstone's
winter season will begin on time and points the park in a better direction than
the administration's previous plan. These are encouraging developments-for
the short-term. For the long-term, however, the daily ceiling of 318
snowmobiles still exceeds the daily average of the past five winters and will lead
to damage of Yellowstone's resources. Every
scientific study has demonstrated that the Park Service can do a better job
protecting Yellowstone by increasing public
use of snowcoaches. Such an approach has been recommended by every Park Service
director who has served over the past 44 years.
[Kristen
Brengel, 202/429-2694, kristen_brengel@tws.org]
10.
Wilderness-quality Eastern Forests to be Leased to Oil and Gas Companies
Even though oil and gas companies already
hold undeveloped leases on millions of acres, the Bush administration has
continued to sell hundreds of thousands of acres of leases on sensitive Western
lands that are inappropriate for development. (For example, on December 19, the
Utah office of the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) will sell leases ringing Arches and Canyonlands
National Parks while we expect similar
leasing in Colorado.)
A new twist, however, is the expanded leasing of eastern lands including
those proposed for wilderness designation. The BLM recently attempted to lease
a tract of land in West Virginia that is included in the Wild Monongahela Act
(now part of the omnibus lands bill pending in Congress), and The Wilderness
Society anticipates an increasing number of similar lease sales in the near
future.
[Mary Krueger 978/342-2159, mary_krueger@tws.org and Suzanne
Jones, 303/650-5818x102, suzanne_jones@tws.org]
11. Endangered
Species Act to Ignore Possible Extinctions Caused by Global Warming
The Bush administration
proposed new rules that would undermine the Endangered Species Act by changing
it to ensure that the potential effects of global warming will rarely, if ever,
be considered. These rule changes also would allow federal agencies to
make land management decisions or take other actions without consulting the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service about
the impacts their actions might have on a particular species. These changes
have been proposed despite findings by the International Panel on Climate
Change that 30 percent of species alive today could become extinct if global
warming continues unabated.
[David Moulton, 202/429-2681, david_moulton@tws.org]
12. "Threatened" Polar Bears
Endangered by Accelerated Offshore Arctic Leasing
America's polar bear, listed just this year as "threatened"
under the Endangered Species Act, faces further endangerment from already
completed oil and gas lease sales in its primary hunting habitats of the frozen
Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of Alaska.
Major oil companies have begun seismic testing on lands they purchased last February
when the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS)
held the first of several planned lease sales on nearly 30 million acres of the
Chukchi-an area the size of Pennsylvania. The
administration's five-year plan proposes moving forward aggressively on
further leasing in the Chukchi and Beaufort, while a new expedited nationwide
offshore leasing and drilling plan could mean the opening of more areas in
these seas as well as in Bristol Bay. These Arctic waters are
also rich in marine life such as whales, seals and walrus, and are important
for indigenous peoples, who hunt seals and bowhead whales. Impacts from seismic
testing, marine traffic, and pollution threaten to irreparably harm these areas,
which are already vulnerable and changing due to global warming. MMS
documents insufficiently presented the cumulative impacts of oil leasing,
exploration, and development, and the effects of climate change on wildlife and
other values because most were based on outdated research for a region that
isn't well understood.
[Eleanor Huffines, 907/272-9453x103, eleanor_huffines@tws.org]
13. Utah's Canyon
Country Sacrificed in Favor of One Last Gift for Oil and Gas
After dismissing or resolving 87 protests
in less than a month, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will implement five
of six resource management plans that would manage more than 10.5 million acres
of Utah's public lands in the Moab, Price, Vernal, Richfield, Monticello,
and Kanab areas. The Monticello
plan will be released pending approval by state officials. The BLM prioritized
energy development and off-road vehicle access on nearly 5 million of these
acres that hold wilderness characteristics, making these plans the ribbon that
decorates the massive gift package that the Bush administration has already
delivered to the oil and gas industry over the last eight years.
[Nada Culver,
303/650-5818x117, nada_culver@tws.org]
14. Forest
Service Land
Managers Prevented From Making Air Quality Comments
In order to stymie recognition of air
quality problems by Forest Service land managers, the administration
issued a directive that decisions finding adverse air quality impacts must be
reviewed the chief of the Forest Service and then be passed on to the deputy
undersecretary for forests for a final decision. Among other problems,
this process ensures that air quality determinations will be made by Washington political
appointees rather than Forest Service land managers actually working in the
field. Specifically, the directive outlines an additional 30 days for this
political level of decision-making. This drawn-out timeline can
effectively derail meaningful comment by the agency, due to failure to meet
National Environmental Policy Act (and other process) comment deadlines.
[Stephanie Kessler, 307/332-3462, stephanie_kessler@tws.org]
15. Fish
and Wildlife Service to Issue National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Policy
Without Public Review
Sound wilderness management practices not
only protect the resource, but also ensure that visitors to National Wildlife Refuge
System wilderness areas see the landscape and wildlife in a natural condition.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last offered a draft wilderness stewardship
policy for public comment under the Clinton
administration in 2001. That draft, which contained important protections for
wilderness, was never finalized. We expect that the Bush administration will
release guidelines on wilderness management without time for public review.
Given that wildlife refuges have faced a number of challenges, such as global
warming, in the seven years that have elapsed since the last version of the
draft was released in 2001, the need for public review of and comment on the
policy is critical.
[Maribeth Oakes,
202/429-2674, maribeth_oakes@tws.org]
Other Rollbacks:
Since 1935, The Wilderness Society has led the conservation movement in wilderness protection, writing and passing the landmark Wilderness Act and winning lasting protection for 107 million acres of Wilderness, including 56 million acres of spectacular lands in Alaska, eight million acres of fragile desert lands in California and millions more throughout the nation.
"Today was a horrific day in the history of the nation," said the leader of one legal group, but "the rule of law prevailed."
Even before U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday publicly revealed that he was invoking the Alien Enemies Act, legal groups took action, which led to a federal judge temporarily blocking the administration from using the 1798 law for deportations.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of the District Court for the District of Columbia issued "a classwide, nationwide temporary restraining order, blocking removal of any noncitizens in U.S. custody who are subject to today's AEA order for the next 14 days," according toLaw Dork's Chris Geidner. Earlier in the day, the judge had issued a TRO for the individual plaintiffs in this case.
Like Geidner, American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick shared updates from the evening hearing on social media. He noted that the ACLU said at least two planes were en route to El Salvador and Honduras. The judge—an appointee of former President Barack Obama—ordered any planes in the air to turn around but said he could not take action for any aircraft that had landed.
With a few final matters, the hearing is now over. Great job by the ACLU and partners in getting this lawsuit filed so quickly, and on Judge Boasberg for understanding the urgency. We'll have to watch to see whether the planes are turned around in time, as at least one is in the air now.
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:54 PM
The national and D.C. arms of the ACLU launched the lawsuit with Democracy Forward, whose president and CEO, Skye Perryman, stressed early Saturday that "the United States is not at war, nor has it been invaded. The president's anticipated invocation of wartime authority—which is not needed to conduct lawful immigration enforcement operations—is the latest step in an accelerating authoritarian playbook."
"From improperly apprehending American citizens, to violating the ability of communities to peacefully worship, to now improperly trying to invoke a law that is responsible for some of our nation's most shameful actions, this administration's immigration agenda is as lawless as it is harmful," Perryman added. The AEA was most recently used during World War II to force thousands of people of mostly German, Italian, and Japanese descent in internment camps.
Lee Gelernt, lead counsel and deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, called Trump's move "as unprecedented as it is lawless," and said that "it may be the administration's most extreme measure yet, and that is saying a lot."
After the initial TRO, Perryman said that "yet again, the judicial system is essential to protect our democracy. We collaborated through the night with our co-counsel to ensure that the president could not invoke wartime powers to deal with his policy challenges. We are gratified to see the judge's decision and will work on the next stages to ensure those impacted by this dangerous move to invoke wartime powers when the nation is not at war—and has not been invaded—are protected."
After the president’s unlawful and unprecedented invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a judge issued a nationwide temporary restraining order in Democracy Forward's case with our partners at @aclu.org & @aclu-dc.bsky.social. Full statement to follow.
[image or embed]
— Democracy Forward (@democracyforward.org) March 15, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Following Boasberg's final decision Saturday, the broader TRO, Perryman declared that "today was a horrific day in the history of the nation," but "the rule of law prevailed."
The legal battle stems from an effort to deport five Venezuelans accused of being involved with the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), but based on Trump's comments on the campaign trail—and his recent designation of multiple cartels as terrorist groups—the president is expected to seek a wider use of the AEA to deliver on his promised mass deportations.
Trump's proclamation, dated Friday but released Saturday, says TdA "is a designated foreign terrorist organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States. TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolas Maduro regime-sponsored, narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking."
"TdA has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime's goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States," Trump said. "I proclaim that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA, are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies."
It is noteworthy that Trump's EO invoking the Alien Enemy Act to deport certain Venezuelans without recourse to the protections of immigration law was signed on March 14, but not made public until today (March 15). In other words, they started the organizing these deportations by secret order.
[image or embed]
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:51 PM
The legal fight is far from over. The next hearing before Boasberg is scheduled for Friday afternoon. The groups behind the lawsuit were not alone in sounding the alarm about Trump's invocation of the 18th-century law.
FWD.us president Todd Schulte said in a statement that "the Alien Enemies Act was last used to incarcerate 120,000 Japanese-Americans and tens of thousands of others during World War II. Its use was a mistake and a tragedy."
"There should be no effort to invoke this law today or in the future—against anyone, no matter their immigration status, be they an adult or child, as is proposed in today's declaration," he asserted. "Actions like this have no place in the immigration system or country we should seek to build."
Allison McManus, managing director for national security and foreign policy at the Center for American Progress, said that "invoking the Alien Enemies Act is a dangerous abuse of power intended to deprive people of their legal rights. This announcement comes just one day after the president threatened to use the Department of Justice against his critics, raising the likelihood that these powers will be exploited and put the safety of any American who speaks out against this administration at risk."
McManus added that "every American, regardless of their politics, should be concerned that the president is granting himself powers last invoked to detain thousands of Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II—one of the most shameful times in U.S. history."
"U.S. officials are escalating deadly attacks on one of the poorest and most devastated nations in the Middle East, while recklessly pushing the U.S. toward a wider regional war with Iran," said one peace group.
This is a developing news story... Please check back for possible updates.
U.S. President Donald Trumpannounced Saturday that he had ordered the military to "launch decisive and powerful" action against the Houthis in war-torn Yemen, a glaring contradiction of what critics have called the Republican's "anti-war charade."
The U.S. bombing follows Trump redesignating the Houthis—also known as Ansar Allah—as a terrorist organization shortly after returning to office in January and comes just days after the group renewed a blockade on Israeli ships.
Shuaib Almosawa reported earlier this week for Drop Site News that "the military spokesperson for the Houthi-led government in Yemen on Tuesday announced the resumption of the naval blockade targeting Israeli ships traversing Yemen's waterways, following the expiration of its deadline for Israel to allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip."
"In a televised statement broadcast by Almasirah TV channel, Houthi spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said that the blockade on Israeli ships now covers Yemen's waterways in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait," according to Almosawa, a freelance journalist based in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Trump's lengthy Saturday post on his Truth Social platform did not explicitly mention Israel or Gaza. He said in part that "funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at U.S. aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies. These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk."
Almosawa reported Saturday that at least nine civilians have been killed in Trump's new bombing campaign.
According toThe Associated Press:
The Houthi media office said the U.S. strikes hit "a residential neighborhood" in Sanaa's northern district of Shouab. Sanaa residents said at least four airstrikes rocked the Eastern Geraf neighborhood in Shouab district, terrifying women and children in the area.
"The explosions were very strong," said Abdallah al-Alffi. "It was like an earthquake."
The United States, Israel, and Britain have previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen. Israel's military declined to comment.
Trump noted the bombings under former U.S. President Joe Biden, saying Saturday that his predecessor's "response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going."
The U.S.-based peace group CodePink called out another part of Trump's post, saying that he "claimed that the Houthis have waged an 'unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism' against America and other ships, aircraft, and drones. However, he conveniently ignores critical context behind these actions. The Houthis' attacks on foreign cargo ships began in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, aimed at deterring the continuation of Israel's ongoing plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine."
"This campaign ceased when a cease-fire was finally put in place, only to resume due to Israel's ongoing violations of the cease-fire agreement," CodePink continued, noting Israeli strikes that just reportedly killed aid workers and journalists in Gaza. "Instead of confronting the root causes of this violence, U.S. officials are escalating deadly attacks on one of the poorest and most devastated nations in the Middle East, while recklessly pushing the U.S. toward a wider regional war with Iran."
"CodePink and its allies demand an immediate halt to U.S. military intervention in Yemen and across the Middle East," the group concluded. "We call on the government to prioritize peace and justice by immediately ending all military aid and funds to Israel and holding Israel accountable for breaking the cease-fire."
Members of Congress across the political spectrum have a history of criticizing U.S. bombings of Yemen throughout its decadelong civil war as illegal. Justin Amash, a libertarian former Michigan congressman, slammed the Saturday strikes on social media.
"I'll say it again. It is unconstitutional for President Trump to engage in acts of war in Yemen," Amash explained. "It doesn't matter how appropriate you think it is for the U.S. to take on Houthis or terrorists or anyone. Congress has not authorized war in Yemen. Engaging in war there is unlawful."
"It underscores that his critiques of white supremacy in the Age of Trump are perceived as threatening for one simple reason: He's right."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has faced a flood of condemnation since announcing on social media Friday that "South Africa's ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country."
"Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates President Donald Trump," the secretary claimed. "We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA."
In the post on X—the social media site owned by Elon Musk, Trump's South Africa-born billionaire adviser—Rubio linked to an article by the right-wing news site Breitbart about Rasool saying during a Friday webinar that the U.S. president is leading global a white supremacist movement.
As examples of Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement exporting its "supremacist assault," Rasool pointed to Musk elevating Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform U.K. party, and Vice President JD Vance meeting with the leader of the neo-Nazi Alternative for Germany party.
Responding to Rubio on X, North Carolina State University assistant teaching professor Nathan Lean said: "Ebrahim Rasool is a man of genuine decency, moral courage, and is a friend. This makes me absolutely embarrassed to be an American. And it underscores that his critiques of white supremacy in the Age of Trump are perceived as threatening for one simple reason: He's right."
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) similarly responded: "Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool is a principled leader who fought alongside Nelson Mandela against apartheid and has dedicated his career to democracy, interfaith cooperation, and justice. Baseless attacks like this only serve to divide. We stand by him and his lifelong commitment to building a more just and inclusive world."
Laila Al-Arian, executive producer of Al Jazeera's "Fault Lines," declared that "this administration is virulently and unabashedly Islamophobic, not even trying to hide how unhinged they are as they go after people for speech."
Rasool previously served as ambassador during the Obama administration and returned to the role shortly before Trump began his second term. Earlier this week, Semafor reported on his difficulties dealing with the current administration:
He has failed to secure routine meetings with State Department officials and key Republican figures since Trump took office in January, Washington and South African government insiders told Semafor, drawing frustration in Pretoria.
Rasool is likely to have been frozen out for his prior vocal criticism of Israel, a South African diplomat, based in Washington, told Semafor. "A man named Ebrahim, who is Muslim, with a history of pro-Palestine politics, is not likely to do well in that job right now," said one of them. While South Africa brought a case against Israel to the International Court of Justice in December 2023, accusing it of genocide in Gaza, Rasool is nevertheless widely considered to be among the government's most ardent pro-Palestine voices.
South African political analyst Sandile Swana told Al Jazeera on Friday that the "core of the dispute" with the diplomatic was the genocide case against U.S.-armed Israel. In the fight against apartheid, the U.S. "supported the apartheid regime," said Swana. "Rasool continues to point out the behaviour of the United States, even now is to support apartheid and genocide."
Other critics also pointed to the ongoing court battle over Israel's utter destruction of Gaza and mass slaughter of Palestinians.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) national executive director Nihad Awad told Rubio: "Your declaration of Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool as persona non grata is a racist, Islamophobic, transparent act of retaliation for South Africa's opposition to Israel's genocide in Gaza."
Imraan Siddiqi, a former congressional candidate in Washington who now leads the state's branch of CAIR, said that "he stood up firmly against apartheid, so it's no coincidence you're punishing him in favor of an openly apartheid state."
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said in a statement Saturday that "the presidency has noted the regrettable expulsion of South Africa's ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool.
"The presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter," the office added. "South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States of America."
The diplomat's expulsion follows Trump signing an executive order last month that frames South Africa's land law as "blatant discrimination" against the country's white minority. Writing about the order for Foreign Policy in Focus, Zeb Larson and William Minter noted that "his actions echo a long history of right-wing support in the United States for racism in Southern Africa, including mobilization of support for white Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) as well as the apartheid regime in South Africa."
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