Mahmoud Khalil after arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport on June 21, 2025 in Newark, N.J.

A federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration's efforts to revoke the legal status of pro-Palestinian students and activists, saying top leaders violated their right to free speech.

Actions were taken by the departments of State and Homeland Security "to strike fear" into other students with similar, pro-Palestinian views, U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young in Boston found, and they had the effect of "pro-actively (and effectively) curbing lawful pro-Palestinian speech."

Young sided with groups representing university faculty, finding that the administration sought to "target noncitizen pro-Palestinians for deportation primarily on account of their First Amendment protected political speech."

"Moreover, the effect of these targeted deportation proceedings continues unconstitutionally to chill freedom of speech to this day," Young said.

Young, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, opened his Sept. 30 opinion with a scrapbook-style copy of a threatening, handwritten postcard sent to his office and dated June 19, 2025. It read: "Trump has pardons and tanks... What do you have?"

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem earlier in 2025 sought to revoke the legal status of several high-profile, pro-Palestinian student activists and place them in deportation proceedings.

Among them was Mahmoud Khalil, a former student of Columbia University and legal permanent resident who was active in pro-Palestinian protests on campus. He spent more than three months in ICE detention in Louisiana in 2025 and continues to fight his case to remain in the United States.

The lawsuit was filed in March by faculty groups including the American Association of University Professors and its chapters at Harvard, Rutgers and New York University, and the Middle East Studies Association. Young issued his ruling following a trial.

The Justice Department, under President Donald Trump, argued during the trial that no such policy of deportation for ideological reasons existed and that the administration was lawfully executing its wide discretion to enforce immigration laws for the justifiable purpose of ensuring national security and protecting Jewish students.

From his first day in office, Trump has asserted a separation of the free speech rights of American citizens from those of noncitizens. His Jan. 20 executive order entitled "Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship" barred federal officials from any action "that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen." It didn't mention free speech rights of noncitizens.

Reuters contributed.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge rules Trump's deportation moves against pro-Palestinian students unconstitutional

Reporting by Lauren Villagran, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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