Judge finds the Trump administration unconstitutionally targeted
noncitizens over Gaza war protests
[October 01, 2025]
By MICHAEL CASEY
BOSTON (AP) — The Trump administration violated the Constitution when it
targeted non-U.S. citizens for deportation solely for supporting
Palestinians and criticizing Israel, a federal judged said Tuesday in a
scathing ruling directly and sharply criticizing President Donald Trump
and his policies as serious threats to free speech.
U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston agreed with several
university associations that the policy they described as ideological
deportation violates the First Amendment as well as the Administrative
Procedure Act, a law governing how federal agencies develop and issue
regulations. Young also found the policy was “arbitrary or capricious
because it reverses prior policy without reasoned explanation.”
“This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall within the
jurisdiction of this district court –- 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. The Court answers
this Constitutional question unequivocally ‘yes, they do,’” Young, a
nominee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, wrote.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security, released a statement that didn't directly address the ruling
but said Young was “smearing and demonizing federal law enforcement.”
“Our ICE law enforcement should be thanked for risking their lives every
day to arrest murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and
terrorists instead of vilified by sanctuary politicians,” she said.
"It’s disheartening that even after the terrorist attack and recent
arrests of rioters with guns outside of ICE facilities, this judge
decides to stoke the embers of hatred.”
Plaintiffs in the case welcomed the ruling.
“The Trump administration’s attempt to deport students for their
political views is an assault on the Constitution and a betrayal of
American values," said Todd Wolfson, president of the American
Association of University Professors union. “This trial exposed their
true aim: to intimidate and silence anyone who dares oppose them. If we
fail to fight back, Trump’s thought police won’t stop at pro-Palestinian
voices—they will come for anyone who speaks out.”
The ruling came after a trial during which lawyers for the associations
presented witnesses who testified that the Trump administration had
launched a coordinated effort to target students and scholars who had
criticized Israel or showed sympathy for Palestinians.
“Not since the McCarthy era have immigrants been the target of such
intense repression for lawful political speech,” Ramya Krishnan, senior
staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, told the court.
“The policy creates a cloud of fear over university communities, and it
is at war with the First Amendment.”
Young will hold a separate hearing on the relief requested by the
plaintiffs, which is likely to be a request that the Trump
administration stop engaging in ideological deportations.
Lawyers for the Trump administration put up witnesses who testified
there was no ideological deportation policy as the plaintiffs contended.
“There is no policy to revoke visas on the basis of protected speech,”
Victoria Santora told the court. “The evidence presented at this trial
will show that plaintiffs are challenging nothing more than government
enforcement of immigration laws.”
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Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil chants during a rally
celebrating his return from immigration detention, June 22, 2025, in
New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova, File)
John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the Bureau of Consular
Affairs, testified that visa revocations were based on longstanding
immigration law. Armstrong acknowledged he played a role in the visa
revocation of several high-profile activists, including Rumeysa
Ozturk and Mahmoud Khalil, and was shown memos endorsing their
removal.
Armstrong also insisted that visa revocations were not based on
protected speech and rejected accusations that there was a policy of
targeting someone for their ideology.
One witness testified that the campaign targeted more than 5,000
pro-Palestinian protesters. Out of the 5,000 names reviewed,
investigators wrote reports on about 200 who had potentially
violated U.S. law, Peter Hatch of ICE’s Homeland Security
Investigations Unit testified. Until this year, Hatch said, he could
not recall a student protester being referred for a visa revocation.
Among the report subjects was Palestinian activist and Columbia
University graduate Khalil, who was released last month after 104
days in federal immigration detention. Khalil has become a symbol of
Trump’s clampdown on the protests.
Another was the Tufts University student Ozturk, who was released in
May from six weeks in detention after being arrested on a suburban
Boston street. She said she was illegally detained following an
op-ed she co-wrote last year criticizing her school’s response to
the war in Gaza.
Young accused Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of
State Marco Rubio and their agents of misusing their powers to
target noncitizens who were pro-Palestinian in order to silence them
and, in doing so, “intentionally denying such individuals (including
the plaintiffs here) the freedom of speech that is their right.”
“Moreover, the effect of these targeted deportation proceedings
continues unconstitutionally to chill freedom of speech to this
day,” he added.
Young also criticized Trump in his 161-page ruling, suggesting he
supported the policy, even though he may not have authorized its
operation. “The facts prove that the President himself approves
truly scandalous and unconstitutional suppression of free speech” on
the part of two of his senior Cabinet secretaries, he wrote.
He also used his ruling to draw attention to what he sees as Trump’s
broader effort to stifle dissent and attack anyone whom he disagrees
while at the same time urging Americans to stand up to these
threats. Referencing Reagan speaking about the fragility of freedom
when he was the governor of California, Young said he believes that
Trump appreciates and understands those words but fears "he has
drawn from it a darker, more cynical message.”
“I 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,” he wrote.
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