\n<\/p>\n
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration\u2019s policy to detain and deport foreign scholars over their pro-Palestinian views violates the US constitution and was designed to \u201cintentionally\u201d chill free speech rights.<\/p>\n
The case was brought by the national American Association of University Professors (AAUP); its Harvard, Rutgers and New York University chapters; and the Middle East Studies Association (Mesa), following the arrest and detention of several non-citizen students and scholars who have spoken out for Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n
In a 161-page ruling issued on Tuesday, the judge, William G Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee, called the case \u201cperhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case \u2026 squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us,\u201d Young wrote in the ruling. \u201cThe Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally \u2018yes, they do\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018No law\u2019 means \u2018no law\u2019,\u201d Young continued \u2013 a reference to the first amendment\u2019s stipulation that Congress \u201cshall make no law\u201d abridging the freedom of speech. \u201cNo one\u2019s freedom of speech is unlimited, of course, but these limits are the same for both citizens and non-citizens alike.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs had accused the government of running an illegal \u201cideological-deportation policy\u201d after Trump signed two executive orders in January targeting non-citizens who \u201cespouse hateful ideology\u201d and to combat antisemitism.<\/p>\n
The government denied such a policy existed, declaring in court filings that it was the product of plaintiffs\u2019 \u201cimagination\u201d and that officials had made determinations about each individual on a case-by-case basis. It also claimed the authority to deport non-citizens who have committed no crimes but whose presence it deems poses a threat to US foreign policy.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Ramya Krishnan of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University at a press conference in Boston after the first day of the trial.<\/span> Photograph: Terri Unger<\/p>\n During the trial, the government\u2019s attorneys sought to block the release of documents detailing its processes and reasons for revoking student visas and issuing determinations of removability for green card holders. Several state department officials testified in court that they had been instructed by higher-ups to compile allegations about the individuals targeted, sometimes relying on dossiers from the rightwing Canary Mission, a secretive, pro-Israel group dedicated to doxing thousands of pro-Palestinian scholars.<\/p>\n The case was filed in March and went to trial in July. During two weeks of testimony, both citizen and non-citizen scholars spoke of the \u201cchilling effect\u201d caused on campuses across the country by the arrests of Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk and Badar Khan Suri. The scholars have since been released while their immigration cases proceed in court.<\/p>\n In a statement, Todd Wolfson, the president of the AAUP, called the Trump administration\u2019s attempted deportation of students over their political views \u201ca betrayal of American values\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis trial exposed their true aim: to intimidate and silence anyone who dares oppose them,\u201d he added. \u201cIf we fail to fight back, Trump\u2019s thought police won\u2019t stop at pro-Palestinian voices \u2013 they will come for anyone who speaks out.\u201d<\/p>\n Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, which represented the plaintiffs, hailed the ruling as \u201chistoric\u201d.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to This Week in Trumpland<\/span><\/p>\n A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cIf the first amendment means anything, it means the government can\u2019t imprison people simply because it disagrees with their political views,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cWe welcome the court\u2019s reaffirmation of this basic idea, which is foundational to our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n The US Department of Justice declined to comment. The state department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The ruling is widely expected to be appealed, possibly all the way up to the US supreme court.<\/p>\n Young added a personal note to the decision \u2013 his response to an anonymous post card he received in June reading \u201cTrump has pardons and tanks \u2026 What do you have?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlone, I have nothing by my sense of duty,\u201d Young replied, at the top of the ruling before appearing to address the ruling to the sender. \u201cTogether, We the People of the United States \u2013 you and me \u2013 have our magnificent Constitution. Here\u2019s how that works out in a specific case.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>William G Young\u2019s letter.<\/span> Photograph: United States district court for the district of Massachusetts<\/p>\n In the ruling, Young also appeared to offer a broader critique of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n \u201cI fear President Trump believes the American people are so divided that today they will not stand up, fight for, and defend our most precious constitutional values so long as they are lulled into thinking their own personal interests are not affected,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIs he correct?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration\u2019s policy to detain and deport foreign scholars over their pro-Palestinian views violates the US constitution and was designed to \u201cintentionally\u201d chill free speech rights. The case was brought by the national American Association of University Professors (AAUP); its Harvard, Rutgers and New York University chapters; and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[794,15128,5102,3807,675,440,328,14960,678,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-24980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-administration","9":"tag-blistering","10":"tag-deport","11":"tag-issues","12":"tag-judge","13":"tag-opinion","14":"tag-policy","15":"tag-propalestinian","16":"tag-students","17":"tag-trump"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}