US judge rules Trump's deportation of pro-Palestinian students unconstitutional

SAN JOSE, California — A federal judge in San Jose, California, ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration's practice of revoking the visas of foreign students and deporting them over pro-Palestinian activity or criticism of Israel is unconstitutional. Judge Noël Wise of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said in her ruling that America's tradition of free speech is a measure of democratic strength and that everyone, regardless of citizenship, must be able to express their views without fear of state retaliation. The decision targets a policy under which the administration has detained foreign students and canceled their visas since March 2025 for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on university campuses. The broader case stems from a separate lawsuit filed by Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, challenging his own deportation. Wise warned that the practice pointed toward a dangerous trajectory in which any person in the United States could be targeted for views the government disfavors. She also criticized the State and Homeland Security departments for invoking provisions of federal immigration law for that purpose. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in August 2025 by the Stanford Daily, Stanford University's student newspaper, which said some of its visa-holding writers had avoided covering pro-Palestinian protests and Middle East-related news because of the administration's policies. No immediate comment from the administration was reported.