US judge rules against Trump’s effort to deport pro-Palestinian students

What the report says

A federal judge in California has ruled against the Trump administration’s effort to revoke visas and deport international students over pro-Palestinian speech, saying the government violated constitutional free-speech protections. In a decision issued Friday, District Judge Noel Wise sharply criticized the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security for targeting noncitizens because of their political expression.

According to the article, the case grew out of arrests and visa actions that began in March 2025, including the detention of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident and a prominent figure in campus protests. The lawsuit was brought by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, along with the Stanford Daily and two anonymous foreign-national plaintiffs, who said the government’s actions led them to self-censor for fear of losing their visas.

Wise said free speech belongs to the people in the United States and warned that democracy is weakened when citizens and noncitizens alike feel pressure to remain silent. She also faulted Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s enforcement of visa revocations as discriminatory and lacking clear standards. The administration has argued that immigration law allows the secretary of state to exclude foreign nationals whose presence could lead to serious foreign-policy consequences.

The ruling is another setback for the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activism. It adds to earlier court losses cited in the report and underscores a continuing legal fight over how far the government can go in using immigration tools against protected political speech.