‘Breakdown of rule of law’: McGill professor cancels trips to U.S. amid immigration crackdown

McGill University prof Arash Abizadeh says he’s cancelling work-related trips to the U.S. amid recent reports of foreigners being arbitrarily detained.

A McGill University professor says he’s cancelling work-related trips to the United States amid recent reports of foreigners being arbitrarily detained and what he believes is a “breakdown of rule of law.”

Arash Abizadeh, R.B. Angus Professor of Political Science, said threats of annexation by the U.S. president had already given him pause about going south, but he said after reading about a Canadian woman being detained by ICE agents and a French researcher being deported after border agents searched his smartphone, he decided to pull out of three planned visits to the States, including a conference at Duke University.

“Political scientists, a lot of my colleagues are seeing the signs of a kind of breakdown into a form of competitive authoritarianism, so a kind of departure from democratic norms, which makes people unsafe if they travel, particularly when you’re not a U.S. citizen,” he said in an interview Thursday.

“It just doesn’t make any sense to take these risks to go south of the border. Why would we do this?”

Earlier this week, AFP reported that France expressed concern with the U.S. after border agents read the contents of a French space scientist’s cellphone and deported him after accusing him of “hateful” messages against U.S. policy.

“This measure was taken by the U.S. authorities because the researcher’s phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed his political opinion on the policies of the Trump administration on research,” Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste told AFP on Wednesday.

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Canadian entrepreneur Jasmine Mooney returned to Vancouver after she said she spent about a dozen days being bounced around multiple detention centres in the U.S. after she was detained when she applied for a visa at the U.S.-Mexico border on March 3. She told CTV News she shared a room with dozens of women, with little water, food or basic comforts like blankets during her ordeal.

Not worth the risk, professor says

Abizadeh, who has taught at McGill since 2003, said these reports have had a chilling effect on him, motivating him to withdraw from the Duke University conference and two other workshops later this year at Yale University and the University of California San Diego. He said the Duke conference was “ironically” about new thinking about democracies and democratic theory.

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He announced his decision on Bluesky, an alternative social media platform to X, formerly known as Twitter. The post had been shared more than 350 times, with many rallying in support of his decision.

The decision to cancel, though, wasn’t an easy one, the professor told CTV News.

“These are wonderful occasions to be able to exchange with colleagues and get feedback on the work that you’re doing and to exchange ideas and to advance research agenda. So yes, there’s an important cost that, as academics, we’re paying,” he said.

“And I’m certainly not the only one. I know many other colleagues who have been canceling their plans going south of the border because at this point, it’s the worries and the costs of going there seem to outweigh the benefits.”

Warning from group representing Canadian university teachers

In Canada, there is also growing concern about the Donald Trump administration’s treatment of researchers whose work is wholly or partially funded by U.S. federal agencies. The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) issued a warning on Monday, accusing the U.S. administration of “undermining the integrity and independence of academic research conducted in Canada” by sending researchers a lengthy questionnaire to determine how their work aligns with the Trump administration’s political agenda.

Researchers have been asked to fill out a questionnaire to confirm that their research does not include a climate or “environmental justice” component, does not contain diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) elements, and does not ascribe to “gender ideology,” among other themes, according to the CAUT.

“Our institutions and the federal government need to push back in the strongest possible way against this blatant attempt to interfere in academic research and trample upon academic freedom,” said David Robinson, executive director of the CAUT, which represents 72,000 academic and professional staff from more than 125 universities and colleges.

On Thursday, NDP MP Charlie Angus urged Canadians to avoid travel to the U.S. “if at all possible” and called on the federal government to “stand up for citizens and for the rule of law.”

In a press conference, he mentioned the Mooney detention by ICE and the bizarre March 5 traffic stop in Ohio where Halifax-based folk duo Cassie and Maggie MacDonald were questioned by police officers about their allegiance.

“It’s not the actions of a democratic nation,” he said.