Judge: Trump Officials Illegally Targeted Pro‑Palestinian Noncitizens

U.S. District Judge William G. Young issued a scathing 161‑page ruling finding that the Trump administration — including State Secretary Marco Rubio and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem — unlawfully targeted noncitizen students and faculty who expressed pro‑Palestinian views by revoking visas, arresting, detaining and pursuing deportations to “strike fear” and chill First Amendment–protected campus speech. After a nine‑day trial brought by the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, Young concluded officials “acted in concert” to misuse immigration powers primarily on account of political speech and affirmed that legally present noncitizens enjoy the same free‑speech protections as citizens. The opinion excoriated an “authoritarian” ethos in the administration, criticized ICE’s masked operations as designed to terrorize, and detailed high‑profile detentions — including Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk — some of whom were held without criminal charges and far from their homes. The judge resolved liability but said he will determine appropriate remedies in a later phase while plaintiffs seek injunctions to bar future threats of arrest and deportation. The Justice Department maintains there was no ideological policy and defends the actions as lawful immigration and national‑security enforcement.