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Judge blocks deportation push
A U.S. federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration violated the constitutional rights of international students when it sought to deport them for criticising Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, with the decision issued in San Jose, California by District Judge Noël Wise.
“Wise said in her 90-page decision”
Wise said in her 90-page decision, "Stated plainly, in the United States, freedom of speech belongs to the people," and she added, "It is not the government’s to take."
The ruling centered on how the second Trump administration revoked visas and detained international students studying in the U.S. after they engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy, beginning with the detentions that started with Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil in March 2025.
Reuters reported that Wise chastised the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for deploying provisions of federal immigration law to target non-citizens for deportation for expressing views they wanted to suppress.
The case was brought by Stanford University’s student newspaper, The Stanford Daily, and Reuters said the lawsuit alleged some writers with student visas refrained from covering pro-Palestinian student protests and topics related to the Middle East conflict as a result of the administration's policies.
Speech-chilling retribution
Wise’s ruling described the government’s approach as a threat to protected speech, and the PBS account said the judge cited free-speech and vagueness flaws that violate the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment as she struck down portions of the deportation provisions.
In the same decision, Wise warned that "Tomorrow, or perhaps even today, targets may include anyone in the United States who exercises their freedom of speech to simply express opinions the government does not like," according to PBS.
Conor Fitzpatrick of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Free Expression, which brought the lawsuit, hailed the ruling as a win for First Amendment rights, saying, "Today’s ruling proves that free speech isn’t a privilege, but the inalienable right of every man, woman, and child."
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Wise wrote the Trump administration’s warnings were part of a "campaign of speech-chilling retribution" that violated protections in the First Amendment.
The Chronicle also said the Stanford Daily’s lawsuit alleged that several reporters with legal U.S. visas resigned or asked to have articles removed from its website out of fear that their immigration status would be at risk.
What’s at stake next
The ruling leaves the Trump administration’s visa cancellation and deportation efforts for noncitizen students tied to pro-Palestinian advocacy in legal jeopardy, with Reuters saying Wise ruled the laws used to cancel visas and initiate deportation proceedings were unconstitutional.
“laws that President Donald Trump's administration used to cancel visas”
Reuters also said Wise focused on the administration’s actions from March 2025, when it began revoking visas and detaining non-citizens who engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus, starting with the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil.
The Hill reported that Wise found the Trump administration’s use of existing immigration law to cancel foreign students’ visas and deport them violated constitutional free-speech rights, and it said the case stems from a lawsuit filed by The Stanford Daily last year.
The Hill further said the ruling memo cited instances in which Trump administration officials labeled pro-Palestinian protesters "sympathizers" of Hamas, and it described the policy as threatening to deport and revoke visas of college campus demonstration participants for more than a year and a half.
In the same decision, Wise warned that the government’s approach could expand beyond pro-Palestinian activism, with PBS quoting her concern that the "downward spiral" would be antithetical to the Constitution’s recognition of the right to speak freely.