London [UK], December 26: A British online campaigner hit by US sanctions has launched a legal battle against deportation by President Donald Trump's administration.
Former Labour Party adviser Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), said he was "proud to call the United States my home."
Ahmed was one of a group of people involved in campaigns to tackle disinformation and hate speech online who were hit with visa sanctions, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing them of leading "efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose."
Senior State Department figures have accused the group of seeking to censor online platforms such as Elon Musk's X.
Ahmed, who lives in Washington DC, said: "My life's work is to protect children from the dangers of unregulated social media and AI and fight the spread of anti-Semitism online. That mission has pitted me against big tech executives - and Elon Musk in particular - multiple times."
He said that instead of spending Christmas with his family he was fighting to prevent unlawful deportation from his home country.
Sarah Rogers, US undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, said Ahmed was sanctioned because he was a "key collaborator" with the administration of former president Joe Biden to "weaponize the government" against US citizens.
Ahmed's lawyer Roberta Kaplan said he had "dedicated his life to protecting people, including children, from the violence and misinformation flooding social media."
Ahmed had "particularly prescient in warning against the dangerous spread of anti-Semitism. That mission means he sometimes faces off against powerful tech billionaires who don't like criticism, like Elon Musk," she said.
Rogers termed the State Department's actions "unjustified and blatantly unconstitutional."
Ahmed has filed a legal complaint against Rubio, Rogers, US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to prevent their attempt to arrest and expel him from the country.
A district judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing the arrest or detention of Ahmed with a further hearing in the case listed for December 29.
Oxford graduate Clare Melford, who leads the UK-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI), was also barred from entering the US under the sanctions.
A GDI spokesperson said the visa sanctions on Melford were "an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship."
"The Trump administration is, once again, using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor and silence voices they disagree with. Their actions today are immoral, unlawful and un-American."
The Trump administration has signalled the sanctions could be followed by further action, potentially targeting serving politicians or officials.
Source: Qatar Tribune