A federal judge handed a victory to pro-Hamas campus agitators Tuesday, ruling that foreign nationals who defend terrorism have the same constitutional protections as American citizens.
“I fear President Trump believes the American people are so divided that today they will not stand up, fight for, and defend our most precious constitutional values so long as they are lulled into thinking their own personal interests are not affected,” U.S. District Judge William Young wrote in a scathing 161-page decision.
Young, a Reagan appointee, found Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unlawfully “conspired to suppress campus speech” by arresting high-profile protesters following Hamas’ October 7 massacre, determining that their strategy deliberately aimed to “strike fear” into other students with similar views.
“If the distinguished Homeland Security intelligence agency can be weaponized to squelch the free speech rights of a small, hapless group of non-citizens in our midst, so too can the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and the audit divisions of the IRS and the Social Security Administration be unconstitutionally weaponized against the President’s ever growing list of ‘enemies’ or opponents he hates,” he wrote.
The ruling came after a two-week trial examining the cases of Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk. Khalil led widely publicized protests at Columbia University against Israel’s military response in Gaza, while Ozturk co-authored an op-ed in her Tufts University student newspaper on the topic. Rubio deemed both threats to U.S. foreign policy and ordered their arrests, though courts later rejected the detentions and ordered them released.
Young also accused Trump of exploiting political divisions to prevent Americans from defending their constitutional values, questioning whether the president believes “the American people are so divided that today they will not stand up, fight for, and defend our most precious constitutional values.”
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott pushed back against the ruling.
“The United States is under no obligation to allow foreign aliens to come to our country, commit acts of anti-American, pro-terrorist, and antisemitic hate, or incite violence,” he said. “We will continue to revoke the visas of those who put the safety of our citizens at risk.”
Homeland Security went further, with spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin calling Young a “craven judge” for “smearing and demonizing ICE law enforcement” just days after a terrorist attack targeted a Dallas ICE facility that left two detainees dead and one critically injured.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Judge Young has a history of high-profile clashes with the Trump administration, including a decision striking down sweeping NIH funding cuts he said unfairly targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Source link
