General Discussion

records show

The unsealed court records also reveal how deeply involved Trump aide Stephen Miller was in the effort to revoke the visas of pro-Palestinian academics.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/09/pro-palestinian-deportation-documents-trial-00445238

As the Trump administration identified pro-Palestinian academics to target for deportation, it relied heavily on an anonymously-run pro-Israel website that has been criticized for doxxing, according to newly unsealed court documents and testimony at an ongoing trial.

To support President Donald Trump’s deportation drive, the Department of Homeland Security assembled a “tiger team” of intelligence analysts who built dossiers on about 100 foreign students and scholars engaged in pro-Palestinian activity, the records show.

More than 75 of those people were identified by the shadowy website Canary Mission, according to deposition testimony unveiled this week in a case challenging the Trump administration’s targeting of pro-Palestinian scholars.

The federal judge currently overseeing a trial in the case unsealed the deposition transcripts, which contain hundreds of pages of sworn testimony by administration officials about the campus deportation effort. Some of the details in the transcripts were fleshed out in open court Wednesday as administration officials began to be called to the witness stand.

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Canary Mission

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Mission

Canary Mission is an anonymously run doxing[1][2] website established in 2014 that smears[2] and publishes the personal information of students, professors, and organizations that it describes as anti-Israel or antisemitic, focusing primarily on people at North American universities.[3][4][5] Critics have described it as weaponizing the accusation of antisemitism in order to silence critique of Israel.[1]

Canary Mission's published materials have been described as a blacklist.[6][7] Profiles are publicly-available online and intended for wide use, and Canary Mission may actively send them to employers.[8] Known users of the profiles include Israeli intelligence organizations Ministry of Strategic Affairs[1][9][10] and Shin Bet,[1] which interrogate and deny entry to American citizens.[10][11][12] In March 2025, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other US federal agents detained and attempted to deport multiple international students with Canary Mission profiles.[13] Canary Mission's work is controversial.[6][14][7] Its tactics have been compared to McCarthyism[15][5] and the makeup and reliability of its profiles have been questioned.

Collaboration with government authorities

Allegations have been made that Israeli intelligence organizations, such as the Shin Bet, use Canary Mission profiles.[1] The Ministry of Strategic Affairs[1][16][10] used a Canary Mission profile during the attempted deportation proceedings against Lara Alqasem.[17] The Israeli government has been accused of using Canary Mission data at border control.[18][10][19][12] In March 2025, multiple foreign students with Canary Mission profiles were detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement for allegations of supporting terror.[13] Canary Mission has also been accused of working with the FBI.[20]

2025 federal trial admission

In July 2025, a senior official from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) testified in a federal trial that his team used Canary Mission as a source to investigate a number of student protesters that were foreign nationals.[21] Court records from a federal lawsuit revealed that senior Trump administration officials relied heavily on Canary Mission, in order to identify foreign students and academics who violated the terms of their visa.[22][23][24]

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Dear Legal Community,

It is my goal that Berkeley Law be an environment where all ideas and views can be expressed. This includes speech on controversial issues and even expression that might offend others. I want to do all I can to facilitate and protect that speech. I therefore have been very upset to see that some of our students have been threatened and harassed because they chose to exercise their First Amendment rights.

Some of our students, particularly those supporting the Law Students for Justice in Palestine, have been targeted by Canary Mission. Canary Mission is an extremist website that declares that its purpose is to document “people and groups that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews.” The website does this by publicizing the names, pictures, social media accounts, and other personal information of those whose views it disagrees with it. It says that its intent is keeping “today’s radicals from becoming tomorrow’s employees.”

I condemn this targeting of particular students because of their speech with the goal of harming their employment opportunities. It has caused great injury to our students and our community. This targeting of students because of their views undermines our desire to be a place where difficult issues can be debated and where students feel comfortable taking political positions. Students have reported removing particular experiences from their resumes and refusing to participate in groups and/or events that they would otherwise be interested in because of Canary Mission’s targeted attempt to affect their employment outcomes.

Although I may disagree with some of my students’ views on specific issues, it is my firm belief that the Canary Mission website should not be used as a resource to evaluate students’ qualifications for hiring. If Berkeley Law students are barred from employment opportunities for exercising their First Amendment rights, it will have the grave effect of chilling speech and stifling the exchange of ideas on campus.

Sincerely,

Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
University of California, Berkeley School of Law

Jewish students: A blacklist of BDS supporters is hurting our efforts to defend Israel on campus

Canary Mission is making it easier for BDS-affiliated legislation to pass, write student activists from across the country.

https://www.jta.org/2018/04/23/ideas/jewish-students-blacklist-bds-supporters-hurting-efforts-defend-israel-campus

(JTA) — We are Jewish and pro-Israel students who are active within our Jewish communities on college campuses across North America. Many of us have helped organize against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions-affiliated movements throughout our time on campus.

Over the course of our time fighting BDS campaigns, Canary Mission was brought to our attention repeatedly. Canary Mission is an anonymous site that blacklists individuals and professors across the country for their support of the BDS movement, presumed anti-Semitic remarks and hateful rhetoric against Israel and the United States.

As a group of conscientious students on the front lines fighting BDS on our campuses, we are compelled to speak out against this website because it uses intimidation tactics, is antithetical to our democratic and Jewish values, is counterproductive to our efforts and is morally reprehensible.

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However, we believe that promoting a negative perception of Muslims, particularly Muslim students on our campuses, as Canary Mission does, is similarly hateful. As students on the front lines, we hope that Jewish and pro-Israel communal organizations will trust us and work more collaboratively with us to handle this fight in a credible, respectful and moral manner among our student communities. We believe that Canary Mission is antithetical and destructive to our shared cause of supporting Israel and eliminating anti-Semitism on campus. Instead, we expect credible Jewish and pro-Israel communal organizations to help us combat anti-Semitism on college campuses, and around the world, in a diplomatic manner that seeks to protect our community rather than shaming the other side anonymously, as Canary Mission does.

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