A US academic group sued the Trump administration to stop the deportation of foreign students and academics targeted for expressing pro-Palestinian views and criticism of Israel.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) filed a lawsuit in Boston on Tuesday in a US federal court accusing the campus of suppressing the “environment of oppression” and constitutionally guaranteed rights to free speech.
Lawyers acting for the group warn that the crackdown on Palestinian speeches is likely to signal a broader tightening of opposition in higher education and elsewhere.
The lawsuit comes after the famous arrests of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Syrian-born Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University in New York, Mahmoud Khalil, who holds the green card, and Badal Khan Sri, an Indian post-doctor student at Georgetown University. Both spoke out in support of the Palestinians. Lawyers for both men challenge the legality of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport them.
Another student green cardholder, Yoon Zeo Chung, who also attended the protests in Colombia, sued the administration on Monday after immigration officers tried to arrest her. An ICE official told lawyers that her green card had been revoked. Jung has been in the United States since he was seven years old.
The academic lawsuit filed Tuesday argues Donald Trump and other US officials are pursuing “ideological control policies,” interpreting opinions in support of Palestinians and accusing them of intentionally restraining freedom of expression by criticizing Israel’s military action in Gaza as “plamas.”
“In implementing an executive order issued by President Trump in January, the defendant agency announced it intends to undertake major arrests, detention and deportation of non-citizen students and faculty members participating in the pro-Palestinian protests and other related expressions and related expressions,” reads the lawsuit.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Christa Noem were appointed as two lead plaintiffs and together with Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons (ICE), agents arrested Halil and Suri.
The lawsuit says that previous arrests are the tip of the iceberg and legal action is needed to stop the avalanche of deportation. It cites the description of US President Khalil’s arrest as “the first of the future.”
The administrative authorities “have no doubt that their new policies will involve the arrest, detention and deportation of non-citizen students and faculty for constitutionally protected speeches and associations,” the lawsuit states.
The government is attempting to deport Khalil and Suri under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
The lawyers suing claim that Khalil and Suri’s detention has already had a calm effect by “fearing” students and faculty and silencing them on campuses around the country.
“(It) created an environment of oppression and fear for university campuses. Fear that they might be arrested and deported for legal representation and associations, some non-citizen students and faculty have stopped attending public protests from campus groups engaged in political advocacy.
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“Institutional policies, in other words, achieve their objectives: to terrify students and faculty with the exercise of their first amendments rights in the past, threaten them to exercise those rights now, and silence the government’s imminent political perspective.”
Ramiya Krishnan of the Knights 1st Amendment Institute, a nonprofit legal organization at Columbia University, and the lead lawyer in the case, compared the current scenario to the anti-communist witch hunt in McCarthy in the 1950s.
“Even in that era, you didn’t see the government wrap up students and faculty to engage in political protest,” she said. “But that’s what we’re seeing here. I don’t think this has been a precedent.”
She warned that the administration is using the issue as a dry run to extend voice restrictions to other groups.
“Now they are trying to expel non-citizens based on pro-Palestinian speeches, but tomorrow they were able to expel students based on anti-Trump speeches,” she said. “This is just part of a much broader attack on freedom of speech and democratic institutions.
Even naturalized American citizens were not safe, she said. “The administration has a task force that explores transformation. They run test cases here with individuals and groups who believe they are not popular in society, but if this administration succeeds here, there’s nothing to stop them from engaging in speeches they dislike.”
Todd Wolfson, president of AAUP, reflected her warning in a statement. “The Trump administration is chasing international scholars and students who speak hearts about Palestine, and there’s no mistake, they won’t stop there.
“For those who teach the history of slavery, provide gender-affirming healthcare, study climate change, or advise students on reproductive choices, they’ll come next. We all have to draw the line together.”
