U.S. Judge Noël Wise Blocks Trump Administration Deportations of Pro-Palestinian Students

Judge blocks deportations

A U.S. federal judge in California ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration violated the constitutional rights of international students when it sought to punish them for criticizing Israel’s war on Gaza by revoking visas and seeking deportations.

The ruling was issued by U.S. District Judge Noël Wise in San Jose, California, and it followed detentions that began with Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil in March 2025.

Wise said that “freedom of speech belongs to the people, not the government,” and she criticized the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after they attempted to deport noncitizens over protected speech.

The decision also targeted the administration’s use of the Immigration and Nationality Act, including a provision allowing the secretary of state to “exclude” foreign nationals if their presence could cause “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

The case was brought by The Stanford Daily and others, and Khalil praised the ruling on Saturday in a post on social media: “No one should fear speaking up for Palestine.”

Reporting for this sectionAl Jazeera

Campus fear and quotes

The CBS News report said Wise delivered a victory for The Stanford Daily and framed the ruling around the First Amendment, quoting Wise that “Freedom of speech is illusory if we are only 'free' to express complementary views about the government and its leaders.” CBS also reported that Wise said the government’s tactics had sent a “chilling message” to noncitizen students that “speak out against Israel or in support of Palestinians and we will revoke your visa and deport you.” In a statement, George Porteous, editor-in-chief of The Stanford Daily, responded on X that “The reporters in our newsroom shouldn't have to fear that writing a story will result in their deportation.”

Conor Fitzpatrick, a lawyer at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Free Expression (FIRE), praised the ruling, saying “In America, free speech doesn’t just belong to the people who say things the government agrees with,” as the case argued students were afraid to write or publish. 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 rights, siding with the student newspaper’s claims about fear of deportation.

Reporting for this sectionCBS NewsThe Hill

What comes next

The ruling’s immediate effect, as described by Al Jazeera, was to halt the administration’s effort to deport noncitizens tied to pro-Palestinian advocacy, after Wise said the record showed a “standardless” enforcement pattern for visa revocations. Al Jazeera quoted Wise writing that “The secretary revokes visas when noncitizens are critical of the government or the causes or people it favors,” and it said the judge described this as “seriously discriminatory enforcement.” The Hill reported that Wise stopped short of ordering the government to cease deportation threats because “only the Supreme Court has the authority to block that provision,” leaving the broader dispute over deportation policy unresolved.

The Hill also said the lawsuit challenged two provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, including the power for the secretary of state to authorize deportation if he determined speech jeopardized “a compelling foreign policy interest.” Beyond the student cases, the same reporting noted that the Trump administration had faced other setbacks in immigration litigation, including a federal court striking down an immigrant visa suspension for 75 countries imposed earlier in the year.

Reporting for this sectionAl Jazeeranews