EXCLUSIVE: FBI Raids Pro-Palestinian Students' Homes

Status Coup obtained exclusive video of FBI and Michigan police raiding/ramming through the door of a University of Michigan student activist's home

Status Coup has exclusively obtained video showing the FBI raiding the home of a pro-Palestinian University of Michigan student activist who has been active in demonstrations against Israel’s ongoing murderous assault on Palestinians in Gaza.

“Show me your hands, hands up!” police shouted after breaking down the door of the student’s home in Ypsilanti, Michigan Wednesday morning. The homes of other pro-Palestinian University of Michigan student activists were raided in Ann Arbor and Canton, Michigan. The office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who has previously charged pro-Palestinian student activists, issued the search warrants for these raids. Nessel’s office did not respond to Status Coup’s request for comment.

WATCH VIDEO BELOW:

A source, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, shared that when they arrived at the residence, they saw two students in handcuffs on the front porch—where police and FBI had broken down the front door to gain entry. Another student was hidden from view.

There were approximately a dozen police, and FBI, on site at the students’ home. Soon after being handcuffed, the students were released—but no one was allowed in the residence for the next hour while law enforcement continued their raid with police dogs.

STATUS COUP HAS LED PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTEST COVERAGE—WATCH/SUPPORT:

Several community members were present to support the residents and challenge law enforcement.

“It’s paint, it’s fu*king paint!,” one bystander can be heard shouting at police as they carried cartons of spray paint out of the home (they also removed electronics and paperwork from the residence). In another exchange, bystanders challenged police officers’ raiding the home of the student activists.

“Look at this cop’s punisher patch, who are you punishing? A little 18-year old, little twig arms? You’re real tough, the blue line, oh yea the thin blue line, oh our fallen comrades,” bystanders can be heard shouting at police. Another bystander invoked the controversial deportation of Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the Trump administration acknowledged in court it erroneously sent to a prison camp in El Salvador despite Garcia being here legally.

“Maybe you all get to go down to El Salvador and kill some people,” the bystander said to police.

When a lawyer representing the students arrived and requested a warrant, law enforcement refused to share it with the lawyer, stating they had already shown it to the residents, a source told Status Coup.

Reporting from MLive confirms at least three raids took place Wednesday morning.

These raids come after a recent protest was organized at the University of Michigan to reinstate a student worker who was fired for attending a Pro-Palestinian protest over the last year.

Status Coup will update this story as we gather more information.