Connor Kopchick
@connorkopchick.bsky.social
120 followers 160 following 14 posts
Assistant Professor of Poli Sci at Auburn | Ph.D. via UMD | Transnational Repression, Diasporas, Authoritarianism | Views are mine but should be everyone’s
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connorkopchick.bsky.social
Which types of repression are more likely to elicit foreign sympathy and support for victims? @kgcunnin.bsky.social and I find that US respondents are more sympathetic and supportive of those facing religious and language rights violations, but that these effects are not felt uniformly by partisans.
Rights violations and international public opinion
Victims of human rights violations and their activist allies often attempt to rally external solidarity for aggrieved groups in order to end repression. We conduct a nation-wide survey experiment t...
www.tandfonline.com
connorkopchick.bsky.social
I’m begging Democrats to please stop calling for the routine use of the military as law enforcement (just in red states) as a way to call out hypocrisy. Eventually, the gov will listen and we’ll have with all the same civil liberty violations in Memphis and Dallas as DC and LA.
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
swingingstorm.bsky.social
My mom and stepdad are from the same diaspora group as Zohran Mamdani’s dad (same like “my stepdad was kicked out of the same town and knows some of his classmates”) and apparently the New York Times doesn’t understand how diaspora works, so I am going to tell you a little about my mom’s people!
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
jaywillis.net
"For the child born this summer in Texas, whose parents receive no documents, whose name never appears in any system, and who grows up asking why she can’t go on field trips, apply for scholarships, or open a bank account, the consequences are not legal theory. They are her life."
The United States Is About to Embark on a Terrifying Experiment in Mass Statelessness
This scenario, until recently, might have read like a dystopian projection. But after the court’s decision on Friday, it is no longer hypothetical.
slate.com
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
juliarosekraut.bsky.social
Denaturalization (in order to subsequently deport) has long been used as a tool of political repression to suppress dissent.

See Chapters 2, 3, 4, & 5 of "Threat of Dissent" 🗃️
paleofuture.bsky.social
Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee, has sent a letter to Pam Bondi calling for Zohran Mamdani to be stripped of his citizenship and deported.
Andy Ogles: Zohran "little muhammad" Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York. He needs to be DEPORTED. Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings.
Attached is my letter to @AGPamBondi.
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
armscontrolwonk.bsky.social
Why am I so unimpressed by these strikes? Israel and the US have failed to target significant elements of Iran's nuclear materials and production infrastructure. RISING LION and MIDNIGHT HAMMER are tactically brilliant, but may turn out to be strategic failures. 🧵 1/17
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
jameeljaffer.bsky.social
Every one of these petty, ideologically driven visa denials is an assault on *our* freedom of association, our right to hear, and our ability to learn about the world around us. They are meant to make us stupider, more susceptible to manipulation, and less free. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/w...
French Lawmaker Says He Was Denied Entry Into the United States
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
ketanjoshi.co
"An Australian man who was detained upon arrival at Los Angeles airport and deported back to Melbourne says United States border officials told him it was due to his writing on pro-Palestine protests by university students"

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Australian deported from US says he was ‘targeted’ due to writing on pro-Palestine student protests
Alistair Kitchen says he was detained and questioned about views on Israel and Palestine before being deported from LA to Melbourne
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
juliarosekraut.bsky.social
🚨🚨 ⬇️

A judge has ordered that Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student who was arrested two weeks ago by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents following his citizenship interview, be released from detention while his case proceeds.

abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-c...
Judge orders release of Columbia University student detained by ICE
Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested by ICE agents following his citizenship interview, has been ordered released while his case proceeds.
abcnews.go.com
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
vermontgmg.bsky.social
Reminder that words matter. You can’t “deport” a US citizen. You might be kidnapping, disappearing, exiling, expelling, illegally removing, etc., but you’re not “deporting” a US citizen.
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
adambonica.bsky.social
Even established authoritarian regimes consider arresting defiant judges an extreme tactic—a serious escalation usually reserved for after one-party rule is firmly entrenched. Seeing a judge arrested in the US today should alarm everyone who values democratic governance. This cannot be allowed. 🧵
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
jordanonrecord.bsky.social
BREAKING: In a sudden about-face, a DOJ attorney saiys ICE will be RESTORING the status of thousands of foreign students whose SEVIS records were terminated w/o notice earlier this month.

The move comes amid mounting losses in courts around the country.
www.wusa9.com/article/news...
ICE backs down, says it will restore status of thousands of foreign students
Hundreds of foreign students in the U.S. on F-1 visas said they were informed their SEVIS records were suddenly terminated by DHS.
www.wusa9.com
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
qjurecic.bsky.social
the govt is so clearly just grabbing at stereotypes of "latin american gang" (mostly derived from MS13, as far as I can tell?) and pasting them onto tren de aragua, even though there's no actual connection
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
NEW from @MiamiHerald: as the Trump admin continues to cite tattoos as evidence of gang membership, experts on the Tren de Aragua gang again confirm that it does NOT use tattoos as a means of identification.

The idea seems to have been invented by Americans.
Sociologist Roberto Briceño León, who has been studying violence in Venezuela for 30 years, says the U.S. is misinterpreting the characteristics of members of Tren de Aragua, or TdA. While gangs such as El Salvador’s infamous MS-13 and Comando Vermelho in Brazil are known to compel their members to tattoo themselves as a sign of allegiance or pride, the practice is not common among Tren de Aragua members. “Venezuelan gangs don’t identify themselves with tattoos,” he told the Miami Herald. Gang members’ identities, he said, “are rooted in other elements: the area where they live, the neighborhood where they came from, and the figure of a leader.”
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
dropsitenews.com
JUST IN: U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen has announced plans to travel to El Salvador this week if Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported, is not returned to the U.S. by then.
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
tompepinsky.com
This is exactly right. We have a duty to our students to defend their right to live and work freely and safely in the United States, and we have a duty to our institutions and communities to advocate for our own best interests. These are completely aligned.
sgadarian.bsky.social
International students will stop coming to American universities if their visas are going to be at risk. This will make our intellectual community poorer and also make tuition more expensive for domestic students.
jaweedkaleem.bsky.social
UPDATED: At least 83 students -- at campuses for University of California, California State University and Stanford -- have had their visas revoked as of Monday evening.
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
sgadarian.bsky.social
International students will stop coming to American universities if their visas are going to be at risk. This will make our intellectual community poorer and also make tuition more expensive for domestic students.
jaweedkaleem.bsky.social
UPDATED: At least 83 students -- at campuses for University of California, California State University and Stanford -- have had their visas revoked as of Monday evening.
jaweedkaleem.bsky.social
LATEST: At least 45 student visas across the state have been revoked by the Trump administration, California universities report, as numbers grow. A lawsuit has been filed in a Los Angeles federal court against DHS and Kristi Noem www.latimes.com/california/s...
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
sarahemclaugh.bsky.social
If this reporting is accurate, it is extremely disturbing. Sanal Edamaruku, an Indian author living self-exiled in Finland since 2012, has reportedly been arrested in *Poland* as India is seeking his extradition on blasphemy charges. He was in Warsaw to speak at a conference. yle.fi/a/74-20154223
Indian skeptic Sanal Edamaruku, who lives in exile in Finland, has been arrested in Poland.

The Rationalist International organisation, founded by Edamaruku, reported the matter in a statement on Saturday. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs confirmed to the news agency STT on Sunday that it is aware of the arrest.

According to Rationalist International, Edamaruku was arrested on 28 March at Modlin Airport in Warsaw, where he was scheduled to speak at a human rights conference.

The arrest was based on an Indian-issued Interpol notice for Edamaruku. India is seeking his extradition, according to Rationalist International.

Edamaruku is accused of blasphemy in India and has been living in self-imposed exile in Finland since 2012.

He told STT in 2020 that his life would be in danger if he returned to India. His organisation's statement also references the violence and killings faced by rationalists like Edamaruku.
Reposted by Connor Kopchick
hrw.org
The Trump administration has admitted it committed an "error" when it deported Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran resident of Maryland, back to El Salvador last month.

The administration should work with the Salvadoran government to ensure his safety.