Two prominent U.S. academic organizations filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration, accusing it of orchestrating politically motivated deportations of foreign students and scholars for expressing pro-Palestinian views on college campuses.
The American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association brought the suit in U.S. District Court in Boston, alleging a sweeping effort to suppress constitutionally protected free speech under the guise of national security. The legal challenge comes amid a growing wave of arrests and attempted deportations of noncitizen academics and students who have participated in or voiced support for Palestinian rights.
The complaint follows the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian and former Columbia University graduate student with permanent U.S. residency. Khalil, described by ICE as a Hamas sympathizer, was detained earlier this month and transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana. Badar Khan Suri, an Indian postdoctoral researcher at Georgetown University, was similarly arrested by ICE agents outside his home in Virginia last week.
Another green card holder, Yunseo Chung, a Columbia University junior originally from South Korea, filed a separate suit Monday after federal agents attempted to detain her. Chung has lived in the United States for 14 years and is now seeking a court order to prevent her removal, citing a State Department determination that her presence in the U.S. "undermines foreign policy."
The lawsuit filed Tuesday asserts that the Trump administration is implementing "an ideological-deportation policy" aimed at punishing pro-Palestinian speech. "Implementing executive orders issued by President Trump in January, the defendant agencies have announced that they intend to carry out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian protests and other related expression and association," the suit states.
Named as defendants are Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons. The suit warns that the arrests of Khalil and Suri are only the beginning of a broader campaign, citing Trump's own statement calling Khalil's arrest "the first of many to come."
The administration is attempting to use a provision in the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act that authorizes deportation of individuals whose presence is deemed to carry "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."
ICE and State Department officials argue the removals are part of the administration's enforcement of an executive order issued in January targeting antisemitism on college campuses. A declaration filed by ICE official Roy Stanley stated, "ICE is steadfast in its commitment to enforcing the Executive Order prohibiting anti-Semitism and safeguarding national security."
Chung and another foreign student, Cornell graduate student Momodou Taal, have also sought judicial intervention. Taal, a dual citizen of the UK and Gambia, has reportedly gone into hiding while challenging the cancellation of his student visa. According to the Justice Department, Taal's visa was revoked for "disruptive protests" and creating "a hostile environment for Jewish students."
Stanley further testified that ICE uses "open-source information" to identify individuals targeted by the Executive Order, including publicly available material published online or in the media.
Plaintiffs and their attorneys argue that the deportation campaign is unconstitutional and politically retaliatory. “Out of fear that they might be arrested and deported for lawful expression and association, some noncitizen students and faculty have stopped attending public protests or resigned from campus groups that engage in political advocacy,” the lawsuit states.
