Borders, Bans, and Broken Promises: Law & Liberty in the Age of Resistance?

In 2018, the Supreme Court’s Trump v. Hawaii decision upheld a version of the Muslim Ban, setting a dangerous precedent for executive power to target entire communities under the guise of “national security.” Today, that same legal playbook is being used to justify new travel bans, indefinite immigrant detention, and other systemic attacks. These aren’t isolated issues; we are seeing coordinated global and domestic crackdown on rights – rooted in white supremacy, entrenched patriarchy, and the concentration of state power. Whether it’s the silencing of campus protests, the rollback of reproductive freedom, the erosion of voting rights, or the criminalization of solidarity, the message is the same: dissent and difference are threats to be controlled. Civil rights attorney Sufyan Sohel will examine the legality of the current travel bans and the impact of Trump v. Hawaii, then trace the common threads connecting these struggles. This conversation will delve into the architecture of oppression but also highlight how law students, lawyers, and communities can resist and reimagine a future grounded in dignity, equity, and the collective liberation. Speaker Sufyan Sohel is affiliated with the Cook County Commission of Human Rights; he is the Commission Chair. He was also the Senior Advisor of Special Projects at CAIR-Chicago Council of American Islamic Relations. This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Law Students Association at Illinois Law.