This isn’t just about one researcher or one organization. It’s about whether exposing disinformation is treated as a civic duty, or as an act of resistance punishable by the state. And that’s exactly why they’re being targeted.

speech, making clear that Ahmed cannot be detained or deported until the court hears his challenge. That intervention matters because it draws a line: the government can’t simply declare evidence inconvenient and erase the person who produced it.

A federal judge in Manhattan stepped in and issued a temporary restraining order blocking Ahmed’s arrest or removal while his lawsuit proceeds. The judge emphasized constitutional protections like due process and free

announced. Immigration authorities threatened to detain or deport him under a rarely invoked provision that allows removal based on perceived foreign-policy risks not criminal conduct. It was a way to punish speech without ever having to prove the research wrong.

That framing unlocked a dangerous workaround: immigration power. Ahmed, who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States living in Washington, D.C., with his American wife and child, was the only one of the targeted group physically present in the country when sanctions were

evidence, the admin reframed the researchers themselves as the threat. Under the Trump State Department, led by Marco Rubio, independent watchdogs were labeled “radical activists” and “weaponized NGOs,” a move designed to turn research into a national-security problem rather than a public debate.

Those findings directly collided with Trump narratives. CCDH mapped the same ecosystems that fueled election denial, COVID misinformation, and coordinated harassment the networks Trump relied on to mobilize support, undermine trust, and attack journalists and institutions. Instead of disputing the

and harmful content, and how social-media platforms amplify outrage because it’s profitable. That research repeatedly showed that lies about elections, vaccines, immigrants, and public institutions weren’t accidental they were systemic and politically useful.

CCDH didn’t run protests or campaigns; they followed the data. Their work documented how disinformation spreads online, how a small number of powerful accounts generate enormous volumes of false