30 September 2025-Published by Cyril
A major blow has been dealt to Donald Trump’s deportation policy after a U.S. federal judge ruled that his administration violated the Constitution by cancelling visas, arresting, detaining, and deporting foreign students over their pro-Palestinian advocacy.
The ruling, delivered by Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court in Boston, sided with university faculty groups who argued that the Trump administration’s actions unlawfully chilled free speech on college campuses, breaching the First Amendment.
The lawsuit was triggered in March after immigration authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate, who became the first target of Trump’s crackdown on non-citizen students accused of holding pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel views.
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Since then, hundreds of foreign students and scholars have reportedly had their visas revoked, with several detained. Among them was Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student, who was arrested in Massachusetts by masked plainclothes agents after co-authoring an op-ed criticizing her university’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war.
The ruling comes just two weeks after a Louisiana immigration judge ordered Khalil deported to Syria or Algeria, citing alleged omissions in his green card application. The Trump administration argued that Khalil failed to disclose relevant information, but his lawyers countered that the deportation was politically motivated retaliation for his activism.
Federal Judge Michael Farbiarz has since temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation while reviewing his habeas corpus petition. Khalil, in a statement, accused the administration of employing “fascist tactics” to silence him for demanding justice for Palestine.
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Earlier in April, Judge Jamee E. Comans of the LaSalle Immigration Court in Louisiana ruled that Khalil could be deported, a decision celebrated by Trump officials as a victory in their campaign against pro-Palestinian demonstrations on U.S. campuses. The government claimed Khalil’s activism fostered antisemitism and threatened U.S. foreign policy interests abroad.
However, Khalil’s legal team dismissed the evidence as weak and politically biased, noting that it relied heavily on a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, invoking a rarely used law. They further rejected claims that Khalil misrepresented his affiliations with organizations such as a U.N. agency aiding Palestinian refugees when applying for residency.
As the legal battle continues, Khalil remains in the United States under temporary protection while his case undergoes further judicial review.
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