\n<\/p>\n
On the morning<\/span> of April 23, around 7 a.m., the FBI, along with other local and state police, battered down the doors of four residences across Ann Arbor, Canton, and Ypsilanti, Michigan. The homes belonged to pro-Palestine student organizers at University of Michigan.\u00a0<\/p>\n The raids were the latest move by the University of Michigan and the state against student organizers following the protest encampments last spring. The school has seen particularly harsh repression of campus protests against Israel\u2019s war on Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n While no arrests were made, all electronics were seized into FBI custody and at least two DNA samples were collected, according to local attorneys representing the subjects of the raids. The warrants were from Attorney General Dana Nessel\u2019s office and signed by a judge in the 45th District Court in the small town of Oak Point, Michigan, but attorneys also say they have yet to see probable cause for the search and seizures. Nessel, a Democrat, still has not unsealed and shared the affidavits for the warrants with lawyers or the residents they raided.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThese raids were very much seen as an escalation by the state attorney general.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThese raids were very much seen as an escalation by the state attorney general, who\u2019s expressed quite a bit of an extreme reaction against the students\u2019 activism on the University of Michigan campus,\u201d said John Philo, executive and legal director of the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, the group representing the targets of the raids. \u201cIn terms of probable cause for the warrants, it\u2019s entirely unknown at the moment. The search warrants were issued based on a complaint and the judge has ordered for the affidavit to be suppressed. It\u2019s a terribly unusual thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Nessel, who asked the FBI to carry out the raids, has positioned herself publicly as one of President Donald Trump\u2019s biggest opponents<\/a>. She also <\/a>has extensive<\/a> personal, political, and financial ties to the University of Michigan, which bypassed local prosecutors by enlisting Nessel to crack down on pro-Palestine protesters.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to Philo and Liz Jacob, also of the Sugar Law Center, the FBI presented warrants in Ann Arbor and Canton before entering the premises, but refused to show any at the Ypsilanti residence.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFolks were shocked, especially to see that the FBI was executing an attorney general warrant,\u201d Jacob told The Intercept in an interview. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen that in my experience, and we have not seen that in Michigan around pro-Palestine protests or on any other protests, to my knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the raids, officials denied any connection to the students\u2019 political protest, claiming the FBI was becoming involved in a \u201cvandalism investigation.\u201d In its official press release<\/a> following the raids, Nessel\u2019s office claimed the 12 \u201ccoordinated\u201d vandalism incidents that occurred across the state \u2014 including graffiti that read \u201cFree Palestine\u201d \u2014 totaled to damages of $100,000.<\/p>\n Student organizers have cast doubt on Nessel\u2019s denial that the raids were not related to their pro-Palestine protest.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is about the occupation and the genocide of Palestinians, and the fact that the state does not care about Americans in any way,\u201d said Ira, a Muslim organizer with TAHRIR<\/a>, a coalition that advocates against the University of Michigan\u2019s complicity in the genocide against Palestinians, who asked to use only their first name for fear of retaliation from the school. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about us being targeted right now. All of these people \u2014 not just the Trump administration, but these Democrats \u2014 who are claiming to fight for Americans are the ones who are attacking and repressing us.\u201d<\/p>\n Last October, Nessel filed felony criminal trespass charges against seven student protesters who were arrested last May at a University of Michigan encampment. Those charges were dropped<\/a> in May, just before a judge was to decide whether or not to disqualify<\/a> Nessel over alleged bias. Nessel cited \u201clegal delays and controversies surrounding the case\u201d as to why she dropped the charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n Local organizers, however, fear that the FBI raids are only a stepping stone to something bigger \u2014 and that the dropping of the charges is only a temporary relief.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\u201cShotgun Approach\u201d<\/h2>\n