A federal judge in Massachusetts has warned the administration that it must not single out international students or academics for their pro-Palestinian views by changing their immigration status in retaliation for speaking out.
The ruling, which came after a nine-day court hearing earlier this month, found that secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem and secretary of state Marco Rubio had put in effect executive orders and other means designed to “chill protected speech”.
Presiding judge, Ronald Reagan-appointed William G Young, added that threatening non-citizens’ legal status over airing pro-Palestinian views was “alsoarbitrary or capricious because it reverses prior policy without reasoned explanation or consideration of reliance interests, and is based on statutes that have never been used in this way”.
It reaffirms an earlier decision by that Trump’s deportation of non-citizen students who expressed pro-Palestinian views was unconstitutional because it invalidated their right to free speech.
However, the protections apply only to those who were members of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) or its affiliate, the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), between March 25 and September 30, 2025.
The AAUP first brought a case – backed by the Presidents’ Alliance and some 86 US institutions – to stop the administration from its large-scale arrest, detention and deportation of students and faculty who participated in pro-Palestinian activism.
Students and faculty seeking to block immigration status changes would also have to prove that their visa had not expired and that they had not committed any crime after September 30, 2025.
Those who could provide such proof would effectively be able to show that the administration had changed their immigration status “in retribution” for exercising their First Amendment rights, Young wrote, blocking the government’s ability to do so.
The news comes amid rising political tensions in the US, with anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demonstrations taking place across the country – and especially in the midwestern state of Minnesota. It follows the deaths of two Minneapolis locals, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of ICE agents during protests against officers’ ongoing presence in the city.
The number of people held by ICE has reached record highs, growing to just under 70,000 according to data released in December.
The first year of Donald Trump’s second presidential term has seen the administration embroiled in several legal tussles with the higher education sector as it seems to clamp down on immigration. However, critics have attacked the policies for disproportionately affecting international students and threatening academic freedom.
Most recently, sector bodies have openly backed Harvard University in a long-running dispute challenging Trump’s efforts to bar international students from attending the university.
