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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 22, 2023

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None ofthat is evidence that he is currently subject to deportation, which was the claim. His citizenship application was no doubt rejected because of his conviction; a permanent resident cannot become a citizen with a conviction within the last 3-5 years. It is a temporary bar not a "terminal" one.

There is only a risk of deportation if he does something that is grounds for revocation of his permanent residence status, which he hasn't done.

If you want to split hairs, what I actually said was:

he is in hiding so he doesn't face deportation by the United States

Which is supported by a statement released a few months ago by CODOH. No doubt Rudolf and his lawyers know more about his risk of deportation than we do. But in any case, Rudolf dropping contact is motivated by the concerns as I said in my comment.

Reading the ruling from the Eleventh Circuit court, there is no doubt that Rudolf has been treated unfairly by the US system:

As to Scheerer’s first argument, the administrative record is devoid of any evidence that the German government ascribed a political opinion to him and then punished him for that imputed belief. Rather, as the IJ held, the evidence only reflects that Scheerer was “held to account by a highly developed and sophisticated legal system, . . . received due process, was convicted, and sentenced to a term well below the statutorily established maximum.” Substantial evidence thus supports the IJ’s conclusion that the only inference to be drawn from the record is that “[Scheerer] has been subjected to legitimate prosecution” in Germany. Scheerer has, therefore, failed to produce sufficient evidence to compel a finding that he suffered past persecution, or has a well-founded fear of future persecution, on account of an imputed political opinion.

This is just absurd, as persecution based on an imputed political opinion - a prosecution of so-called "racial hatred" based on his Revisionist work, is clearly what happened. The United States sent him directly to a jail cell in Germany for political opinion that would be protected under the First Amendment.

Which is supported by a statement released a few months ago by CODOH. No doubt Rudolf and his lawyers know more about his risk of deportation than we do

No, it doesn't. It says exactly what was said before, and does not even mention deportation. For example, there is no claim that any effort has been made to revoke his permanent residence status, which surely they would have mentioned were that happening.

Reading the ruling from the Eleventh Circuit court, there is no doubt that Rudolf has been treated unfairly by the US system ... This is just absurd, as persecution based on an imputed political opinion - a prosecution of so-called "racial hatred" based on his Revisionist work, is clearly what happened

First of all, you have no evidence that he has been treated in any way differently than everyone else who makes a claim of a right to asylum based on political opinion. Without that, you have no way to claim that he was not treated exactly as the law required.

Second, the court said that the administrative record is devoid of of any evidence that the German government ascribed a political opinion to him and then punished him for that imputed belief. The key term there is the administrative record -- the evidence presented to the immigration judge. You have no idea what was in the record. Note that his argument was that "his report [w]as purely scientific, historical, and factual, [so] Scheerer contends the German government ascribed an anti-Semitic ideology to his research, thereby persecuting him under Section 130 for an imputed political opinion." His problem is that, the German law under which he was convicted simply outlaws "publicly approving of, denying, or otherwise trivializing an act committed under the rule of National Socialism in a manner capable of disturbing the public order." (see footnote 2 of the opinion). As people here and elsewhere never cease to argue, simply denying that the Holocaust happened is not, per se, anti-Semitic. (And note that he claims that anti-Semitism was imputed to him, not that he is actually anti-Semitic, which makes it more difficult to prove his case). More importantly, the law applies to ANY act by the Nazis: book burnings, forced sterilization of the mentally ill; war crimes like the Malmedy massacre; etc. Not just Nazi anti-Jewish activity. So the mere fact that he was convicted under the law does not say anything about the motives of the prosecution. He needed more evidence. Did he present any? The court says he didn't, and you have no way of knowing whether that is true.

Do I personally think the Germans prosecuted him because he is anti-Semitic? Yes. But that is my opinion, which is work jack in a court of law. Unless he was able to introduce some evidence of that beyond the mere prosecution under that specific law, there is no way he could have won his case on that ground. And, without looking at the administrative record, it is impossible for me, or you, to say whether it is accurate to say that "the administrative record is devoid of any evidence that the German government ascribed a political opinion to him and then punished him for that imputed belief."

Finally, you say that "a prosecution of so-called "racial hatred" based on his Revisionist work, is clearly what happened," but that is not "clearly" what happened, certainly not clear enough for a court, because Germany has laws outlawing racial hatred, but did not prosecute him under those laws.