Judge Rules Trump Administration Unconstitutionally Targeted Noncitizens Over Gaza Protests

Federal Judge Rules Trump Administration Unconstitutionally Targeted Noncitizens Over Gaza War Protests.

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration’s efforts to deport noncitizens who protested the Gaza war violated the Constitution.

US District Judge William Young in Boston sided with university associations that argued the policy amounted to ideological deportation and infringed on the First Amendment. “This case — perhaps the most important ever in this district — addresses whether noncitizens lawfully present in the United States have the same free speech rights as citizens. The Court answers unequivocally: yes, they do,” Young wrote.

The ruling follows a trial where witnesses testified that the Trump administration had coordinated efforts to target students and scholars critical of Israel or sympathetic to Palestinians.

Ramya Krishnan, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, described the policy as “creating a cloud of fear over university communities” and likened it to the McCarthy era, calling it a direct threat to lawful political speech.

The administration’s lawyers argued there was no ideological deportation policy. Victoria Santora told the court, “There is no policy to revoke visas on the basis of protected speech. The plaintiffs are challenging standard enforcement of immigration laws.”

John Armstrong, senior official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, testified that visa revocations were based on longstanding immigration law, not protected speech, though he acknowledged involvement in revoking visas for high-profile activists including Rumeysa Ozturk and Mahmoud Khalil.

Peter Hatch of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations Unit stated that more than 5,000 pro-Palestinian protesters were reviewed, with reports filed on roughly 200 for potential violations of US law. Until recently, he said, student protestors had never been referred for visa revocation.

Notable cases include:

Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, detained for 104 days before his release last month.

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student, detained for six weeks following an op-ed she co-wrote criticizing her school’s response to the Gaza conflict.

The judge’s ruling affirms that noncitizens are entitled to the same First Amendment protections as citizens, marking a significant rebuke of the administration’s actions.