Judge Slams U.S. for Punishing Israel Critics With Deportation

“Criticizing the state of Israel is not antisemitism,” said a federal judge—putting the State Department’s secretive deportation campaign on trial.

WASHINGTON — A federal bench trial in Boston revealed that senior State Department officials under the Trump administration considered statements critical of Israel and U.S. foreign policy as justification for revoking foreign students’ visas, raising concerns over constitutionality and free speech protections.

John Armstrong, the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ most senior official, testified on July 18 that action memos recommending visa revocations for students such as Tufts University’s Rumeysa Öztürk and Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil were either personally approved by him or passed along to Secretary of State Marco Rubio for final authorization.