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During the Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd’s death in 2020, a lawyer was charged and disbarred after setting a police car on fire by throwing a Molotov cocktail in the window. That lawyer was Urooj Rahman. 

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Rahman is an immigrant from Pakistan and she was facing life in prison when Judge Cogan gave her only 15 months of prison time. He said at her sentencing that she was a “remarkable person who did a terrible thing on one night”. 

Rahman claimed that she got caught up in the emotion of the moment but had since reconnected with her faith and spirituality and sought treatment for alcohol abuse and psychiatric issues. It sounded like a wonderful story of redemption, for anyone gullible enough to believe it, until we see her gleeful face four years later in this antisemitic mob on July 4th. 

Rahman was there on behalf of Nerdeen Kiswani‘s group Within Our Lifetime, who were responsible for the Colombia mob occupation and encampment. Kiswani is a piece of work herself. 

Rahman’s text messages from 2020 show her bragging about her violence:

“Set a police car on fire,” she said in one. 

“My rock hit someone. A cop of course,” she added in another and included a smiley face emoji, Richardson said. 

“Molotovs rollin’,” she added in another. “I hope they burn everything down. Need to burn all police stations down and probably the courts too.”

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At what point does a person’s actions qualify as a breach of naturalization? At what point should a person be considered a terrorist? These people would not be able to thrive here without the direct and indirect support of our government officials. In 2020, Rahman’s bail on her crime was a point of controversy:

“We don’t believe this is the time to be releasing a bomb-thrower like the defendant into the community,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Richardson said.

But Rahman was indeed released and the person that covered the $255,000 cost was a former Obama intelligence official, Salmha Rizvi. An appeals court rightfully overturned the release and Rahman was returned to jail.

Before Rahman was given her sentence, she gave an emotional plea for a second chance, saying:

“I’m so incredibly sorry for my reckless and wrong actions,” a tearful Rahman said in federal court in Brooklyn. “I don’t think there’s enough words to express my sorrow and regret. … I completely lost my way in the emotion of the night.”

Yet, here we see her four years later participating in another riot and this cannot be considered spur-of-the-moment emotion but rather premeditated hate. She is showing that she is a serial rioter, and we let her off the hook with little consequences in 2020. 

While the July 4th mob was not as violent as the riots in 2020, the anti-Israel riots of this year led by this group have been violent, destructive, and law-breaking. Rahman’s connection to the group in combination with her history is troubling. Who knows what has not been caught on camera? 

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What should be done for serial rioters? Since 2020, this is starting to become a trend and norm. We need harsher laws for any non-peaceful protests and hate speech. In some circumstances, we only lack to enforce the existing law. 

Many people around the world would give anything for a chance at the American dream and it is a disservice to them, let alone our own nation, to allow this type of hate demonstrated by people we allowed to immigrate here. Anyone who is involved with the burning of an American flag should have their status revoked. We must set an example for those who want to become a part of our country: You will love it, honor it, and contribute to society, or you will be gone. 

READ MORE: It’s July 4th, and Americans Are Burning Our Flag—Why Are These People Even Here?