The FBI and police raided the homes of Palestinian activists in Michigan on the morning of Wednesday, April 23. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies executed search warrants at multiple homes in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Canton Township, Michigan, home to the University of Michigan, a university known for its academic heritage and tradition. The raids reportedly targeted several student organizers associated with the Gaza genocide protests at the University of Michigan.

According to Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), a pro-Palestinian student organization, security personnel confiscated the students' electronic devices and a number of their personal belongings. Four people were arrested and eventually released.

The Liberation Coalition, a student movement advocating for divestment from Israel, reported that officers initially refused to serve search warrants during the Ypsilanti raid. They were unable to confirm whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement was present during the raid.

“We question the motives behind this morning’s aggressive raids on activists’ homes, which come on the heels of recent abuses of prosecutorial power in Michigan and across our country against pro-Palestinian activists,” said Dawoud Walid, executive director of CAIR-Michigan, in a statement distributed to media. “In any other context, such minor offenses would have been handled by local law enforcement or referred to elected local prosecutors, not escalated to federal intervention. This disproportionate response further fuels the perception that Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students, and those who stand in solidarity with them, are treated with disproportionate hostility by law enforcement compared to those who harm Muslim Americans.”

According to the organization, an FBI spokesperson in Detroit declined to explain why the arrest warrants were executed, but confirmed that the office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is handling the matter.

Nessel has declined to confirm whether the raids are linked to Palestinian activism so far, but her office has aggressively targeted the movement. Last fall, Nessel filed criminal charges against at least 11 protesters who participated in the University of Michigan sit-in in Gaza.

A Guardian investigation revealed that members of the University of Michigan's board of trustees pressured Nessel to press charges against students. The report indicates that six of the university's eight trustees donated more than $33,000 to Nessel's campaigns.

After the board members called for action, Nessel took over the cases from local prosecutor Eli Savitt, an extremely rare move, as local prosecutors typically handle such charges.

The Guardian investigation explains: "The University of Michigan's alleged frustration with local prosecutors stems from a campus sit-in in November, in which Ann Arbor police arrested a group of 40 protesters." "Savitt had announced in May that his office would dismiss 36 cases and recommend four of them for diversionary programs, where they faced reduced sentences."

The report continues: "This angered pro-Israel members of the University of Michigan's board of trustees and the police department because they wanted faster and more stringent charges, according to sources familiar with the process..." "They then asked Nessel to take over the cases, and university police sent warrant requests to her office."

It's worth noting that earlier this month, federal immigration agents detained and interrogated attorney Amir Makled, who represents one of the targeted students. Makled, who was returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic with his family, was questioned for 90 minutes but refused to hand over his phone to agents.

"The purpose of searching my phone had nothing to do with terrorism. It was just a chilling effect, and it was imposed to intimidate, in my opinion, the causes I was advocating for," Maklad told NPR after the incident. "I advocate for students. I advocate for immigrants and political dissidents. And I think this was a way to discourage me from taking on those kinds of causes."

The increased repression in Michigan comes amid a nationwide crackdown on pro-Palestinian solidarity by the Trump administration.

In recent weeks, the government has revoked hundreds, perhaps thousands, of student visas, many of them from individuals who protested the genocide in Gaza or publicly criticized Israel.

It is also noteworthy that this week, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Troy Carter (D-LA), and Bennie Thompson (D-MI) traveled to an immigration center in Louisiana to meet with Tufts University doctoral student Ramisa Ozturk and recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who are facing deportation proceedings for their support of Gaza.

“We cannot stand idly by while the Trump administration violates freedom of expression and unlawfully detains people without due process,” Pressley tweeted.