'Canary Mission': The Shadowy Blacklist Targeting Palestine Supporters in America

Deportation/ Forced to Flee

  • Abdelrahman ElGendy - Egyptian student who fled the U.S. due to deportation threat
  • "After three years of carving out a home-in-people during my U.S. exile, I was forced to flee into ghourba once more"
  • "lawyers warned me to prepare for an ICE arrest"
  • "Just two weeks ago, my student visa was revoked by my university"

Arrests

  • Rumeysa Ozturk - Turkish graduate student
  • "plainclothes officers arresting graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national, on the streets of Boston in late March 2025"
  • "Her lawyers claimed that the sole reason for her arrest was her profile on Canary Mission"
  • Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi
  • "two of whom, Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, are in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement"

Denied Entry to U.S. (Old Story)

  • Lara Alqasem - Palestinian-American graduate student
  • "Lara Aqsem, a Palestinian-American graduate student, was denied entry to the U.S. to study at a local university in 2018"
  • "the government's case against her heavily relied on her profile on Canary Mission"

Behavior Change

  • Abdelrahman ElGendy
  • "I spent my final month in self-imposed lockdown"
  • "I closed my public accounts and isolated myself from the world. I spent an entire month in my apartment, never opening the door"

Job Loss (mentioned generally)

  • "Those listed in the organization's database have faced harassment and intimidation, with some even losing their jobs as a result"

Quote about Canary Mission:

"Israeli intelligence has used Canary Mission profiles as a pretext to detain visitors listed in its database at the border"

"What began as a digital platform documenting student opinions has now transformed into an unofficial blacklist, used against them in immigration procedures, scholarships, employment, and even arrest and deportation"