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

A United States federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration violated the constitutional rights of international students when it sought to punish them for criticising Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

In California on Friday, District Judge Noel Wise heaped criticism on the US Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after the agencies attempted to deport noncitizens over protected speech.

“Stated plainly, in the United States, freedom of speech belongs to the people,” Wise said in her 90-page decision. “It is not the government’s to take.”

Wise, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, added that, in the US, speaking out about the government and its leaders was a testament to the health of the country’s democracy.

“That strength is diminished when members of our society — citizens and noncitizens alike — must self-censor and ‘behave’ or suffer the government’s retaliation,” she said.

The ruling centred on how the second Trump administration revoked visas and detained international students studying in the US after they engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy.

The detentions began with Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil in March 2025.

Columbia had been an epicentre for the student protest movement, and Khalil, a graduate student and permanent US resident, had emerged as a key negotiator for the student groups.