Law enforcement raided and searched the homes of multiple University of Michigan anti-Israel activists on Wednesday in connection with an investigation of widespread vandalism across the state, according to statements by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the University of Michigan Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.
No arrests were made during the searches by local, state, and federal law enforcement of the properties in Ann Arbor, Canton, and Ypsilanti, Nessel said in a Thursday statement. The search warrants were in connection with “multijurisdictional acts of vandalism and destruction of property, including those committed against multiple homes, organizations, and businesses in multiple counties around the state.”
BREAKING: YESTERDAY 4/23, FBI AND POLICE RAIDED 3 HOMES OF PRO-PALESTINE ACTIVISTS AT UMICHFBI agents and officers refused to show warrants, seized electronics and personal belongings, and detained and released 7 individuals. STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES. pic.twitter.com/XuyGiHPddX
— TAHRIR Coalition (@TAHRIRumich) April 24, 2025
Nessel denied claims by anti-Israel and Muslim groups that the raids were made in relation to UMich protest or encampment activity.
UMich SJP, also known as Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), claimed on Instagram Thursday that four homes of anti-Israel activists were raided in an effort by the university and the President Donald Trump Administration to suppress pro-Palestinian activism. SAFE called Nessel a Zionist because she was pursuing charges against encampment activists and August festival protesters.
“Today’s violent raids by the FBI are a direct result of the regents’ attacks on our movement,” claimed SAFE. “By repeatedly targeting pro-Palestine activism across campus, the regents and administration set the scene for the FBI to target our peers and comrades today.”
Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan stated concern on Wednesday and offered legal assistance to those impacted by the situation.
“We call into question the aggressive nature of this morning’s raids of activists’ homes, which follows the recent misuse of prosecutorial power in Michigan and throughout our country against pro-Palestinian activists,” CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid said in a statement.
“In any other context, such minor infractions would be handled by local law enforcement or referred to local, elected prosecutors, not escalated to federal intervention. This disproportionate response further fuels the perception that Muslim and Arab students, and those who stand in solidarity with them, are being treated overly hostile by law enforcement compared to those who commit harm toward American Muslims.”
Anti-israel activists in Michigan
In May, masked activists came to Regent Jordan Acker’s home with a list of demands for anti-Israel policies. In December, an object was thrown through a window of Acker’s home, and the family vehicle was graffitied with the slogans “divest” and “free Palestine.” A red inverted triangle, a symbol used in Hamas propaganda to denote the targeting of enemies, was also scrawled on the car.
In February, UMich suspended SAFE for a series of incidents, including its involvement in a dawn protest in May at the home of UMich Regent Sarah Hubbard. A group of around thirty masked protesters, sounding bullhorns, drumming, and chanting, came to her home and erected tents, placed fake corpses wrapped in bloodied sheets on her lawn, and taped a list of demands to her front door. The protest items were left on Hubbard’s lawn for her to clean up.
Like many US campuses, UMich was host to an encampment, established at the university on April 22 to demand that the institution divest from any companies doing business with Israel and that it boycott Israeli academic institutions.