Federal Judge Allows First Amendment Challenge to Anti-Palestinian Deportation Policy

Judge rejects Trump administration's bid to dismiss lawsuit over targeting of pro-Palestinian campus speech.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed by major academic associations against top officials in the Trump administration can move forward, rejecting key efforts by the government to dismiss allegations that it is targeting noncitizens for deportation based solely on their pro-Palestinian political speech.

In a 68-page memorandum issued April 29, U.S. District Judge William G. Young allowed the case to proceed on three of four constitutional and statutory claims raised by the plaintiffs, including the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the AAUP chapters at Harvard, NYU, and Rutgers, and the Middle East Studies Association. The court dismissed a claim under the Fifth Amendment but denied the government’s motion to dismiss on the plaintiffs’ First Amendment and Administrative Procedure Act claims.

The plaintiffs allege that the Trump administration has implemented an “ideological-deportation policy” involving “large-scale arrests, detentions, and depo…