Judge's Rules Against Trump Efforts to Deport Pro-Palestinian Students

[Uncle Joe]

A Reagan-appointed judge has issued a scathing ruling rebuking the Trump administration's targeting of pro-Palestine students. Judge William G. Young called the case AAUP v. Rubio "perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court" and ruled that contrary to the State Department's claims, "noncitizens lawfully present here in [the] United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us."

For more, we're joined by lawyer Alex Abdo, who worked on the case; Todd Wolfson, president of the plaintiff, the American Association of University Professors; and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, whose arrest and targeting by the Trump administration in March kicked off a heightened scrutiny of immigrants living and working on U.S. college campuses.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Trump administration illegally targeted pro-Palestinian protesters, judge rules

The efforts to detain and deport noncitizen activists earlier this year represented an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment, the ruling says.

Trump administration illegally targeted pro-Palestinian protesters, judge rules 👀🗞️🚨

The efforts to detain and deport noncitizen activists earlier this year represented an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment, the ruling says.

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— 2021-Free until now 🇺🇦 💙 🍂🦇 (@patricia-ann.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T18:24:12.241Z

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/09/30/trump-administration-pro-palestinian-student-deportations-trial/

The Trump administration’s push earlier this year to arrest and deport international students for their pro-Palestinian activism was illegal, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, calling the crackdown a “truly scandalous and unconstitutional suppression of free speech.”

In a sweeping rebuke, U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston said that the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department sought to target non-citizens “for speaking out” with the “goal of tamping down pro-Palestinian student protests and terrorizing similarly situated” students.......

The bench trial — decided by a judge rather than a jury — sought to answer the question of whether noncitizens in the United States have the same rights to freedom of speech as citizens.

To pursue and remove noncitizen protesters, the Trump administration deployed the immigration enforcement apparatus in unprecedented ways, according to witness testimony......

In filings, lawyers for the plaintiffs and the government clashed over the question of whether noncitizens have the same First Amendment rights as citizens. In a court document, lawyers for the Justice Department argued that noncitizens’ right to freedom of speech is already constrained, pointing to the fact that they are lawfully prohibited from donating to political candidates.

But the plaintiffs’ lawyers cited decisions by multiple courts affirming that noncitizens who were lawfully admitted to the country are entitled to “the full panoply” of First Amendment rights.