House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast recently proposed the Department of State Reorganization Act. Though the provision was dropped after it faced backlash, the bill initially would have given the State Department the power to seize passports of citizens for support of terrorist organizations—a phrasing that critics feared would allow the Trump Administration to punish Americans for expressing pro-Palestinian opinions and other speech that runs contrary to its goals.

The proposal was an eerie echo of a practice adopted in 1950, as McCarthyism took hold. It ended up ensnaring famed entertainer Paul Robeson , one of the most popular Black actors and singers of the 20 century and a leading figure in the civil rights movement. In August 1950, the State Department order

See Full Page