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Amy Goodman

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Federal Judge Rules Trump Admin Unlawfully Targeted Noncitizens for Pro-Palestinian Activism

HeadlineOct 01, 2025

A federal judge in Boston has ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully targeted noncitizens for their pro-Palestinian activism by threatening to deport them, calling the case “perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court.” Judge William Young, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, wrote in his 161-page opinion that the case “squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in [the] United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally 'Yes, they do.'” Judge Young also blasted ICE in his ruling, saying, ”ICE goes masked for a single reason: to terrorize Americans into quiescence. In all our history, we have never tolerated an armed, masked secret police.” The Knight First Amendment Institute represented the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association in the case and argued that the government’s targeting of Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, Badar Khan Suri and Yunseo Chung suppressed speech on college campuses. Separately, a panel of judges heard arguments yesterday from lawyers representing Öztürk and Mahdawi. We’ll hear more from Mahmoud Khalil later in the broadcast.

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