Teen deported for writing words on a chalkboard - Free speech issue?

Letter he recieved:

November 30, 2010
Jawdat Kasab
C/o Viola Spence
1302 Roseway
Niceville, FL 32578
Dear Jawdat,
This letter is to notify you of your official dismissal from the AYUSA program, effective immediately. This decision is based on an investigation which confirmed that you wrote the inflammatory statement ‘Death to America’ on the board in your American high school.
As a result of your dismissal from the AYUSA program, we have notified the Department of State that your program has ended. You are required to return to Israel as you no longer have a valid visa in the United States. AYUSA staff and your host family are not responsible for providing you with any support as of the date of your scheduled departure flight.
If you have any questions concerning the above information, please feel free to contact me at 1-866-241-0517.
Sincerely,
Pat Balli

So, nothing inflammatory is allowed to be said while your on visa here.

The general definition of "inflammatory" is:

used in relation to comments that are provocative and arouse passions and emotions.

Obviously they are suggesting he was creating negative emotions or passions...but that seems pretty gray.
If its like "death to Obama", then that is a figurehead, a violent concept, etc...but death to america can actually mean any number of things..

From the article, this kid seems to be level headed and friendly overall..so someone could have simply asked him what he meant, or why he even wrote it, but as the article suggests, they didn't even allow him to explain anything...simply heard he wrote it and kicked him.

well, as your all stating your opinions, heres a way to state one, the story is as i know the kid, and ive hung out with him almost everyday since he got to the school he was at, he wrote it on the board among with his other friends. then quickly erased it, but once that was said and done, it was let go till a few days later, a young girl had told on him, being able to read arabic, yes "death to america" was written in arabic!

Hes a good young kid never caused problems, never was in trouble with the school till that point!
YES HE IS FAMILY TO SOME OF US as he spent most of his time with us!!!

theres alot more to be said, but dont say things that you dont know what your talkin bout!

reply to post by SaturnFX


I'm failing to see a problem here.

The letter states that this boy has violated the conditions of the ''AYUSA program'', therefore his participation in this programme has ended.

It goes on to say that his dismissal means that he will have to go back to his home country, because it's inferred that the conditions of his visa that allows him to stay in the USA, are tied into his education programme, of which he's just been expelled from; ergo, he gets sent home.

What's the issue here ?

I don't know about this particular exchange program, but the one that my family was a host family with had behavior rules that the students were obligated to abide by to remain in the program. The article doesn't offer a lot of details, but the letter that the student received from the exchange program seems to indicate that they have similar rules that the child violated.

It doesn't seem to be an issue of freedom of speech as much as it is an issue of not abiding by rules that the student agreed to abide by when being accepted into the exchange program. The only way I could see a problem would be if this particular program wasn't specific about the kind of behavior that it expected from the students it placed with host families. The program that my family was with was very specific about what was or was not acceptable behavior and both the students and host families were aware of their rules.

If the student wasn't willing to abide by the rules of the program in regard to his behavior, he should absolutely expect that the program will revoke his privilege to remain in the exchange student program.

Take care,
Cindi

reply to post by Glencairn


A contractual breach would be a good reason to revoke the visa. But what express condition did he break, I wonder? No political rhetoric or you're deported?

reply to post by Paote


That's something that isn't mentioned in the article, but most exchange programs have acceptable behavior clauses. The program that my family was with (and this was more than 15 years ago, so I don't even know how their rules might have changed over the years) had rules about disrespecting and respectful behavior towards the host country. It is possible that this program that the student in the article was with might have had similar rules in place. That's what makes it not a free speech issue, but an issue of the rules of the exchange program. Since the article neglected to mention the exact reason or rule used for the exchange program's decision we just don't know.

Take care,
Cindi

She said neither the students in the art class where the phrase was reportedly written, nor the teacher have made any mention of a discussion that would have led to writing the phrase on the board.

If it was unprovoked then he probably violated his behavior clause in his exchange agreement.

I don't see where they were wrong in sending him back. He was a sponsored guest of a non-profit NGO in our country. If they believe that he acted inaprpriately that is their decision to make. This isn't about anybody being denied free speech. It is about accepting the consequences of the speech. If he understood the agreement he made he has to be bound to it.

Sorry, this really is a non event.

Originally posted by SaturnFX
Your thoughts? Overreaction or justifiable boot

edit on 4-12-2010 by SaturnFX because: fixin and tweakin

My thoughts are that had this student been Muslim instead of Jewish he would have been contacted by someone and coaxed to perform a terror plot and then given the fake material to perform such plot and then be arrested for it. That someone of course would be an FBI handler.

But as he is Jewish, he can not be used to further the "war on terror" so he was sent home.

You're the one who wanted my thoughts.