US Court Examines Trump Administration Policies Against Students and Professors Supporting Palestine

SadaNews - A judge in Boston has begun an extensive investigation into a lawsuit filed by the American Association of University Professors, which accuses President Donald Trump's administration of restricting freedom of expression at American universities in violation of the Constitution.

 

The lawsuit indicates that the administration adopted a hardline policy, which involved pressuring universities and arresting and deporting foreign students due to their activities supporting Palestine.

Judge William Young commenced hearings on the case on Monday in a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, with sessions scheduled to last for two weeks without a jury.

This case represents one of the rare instances among hundreds of lawsuits filed against Trump administration policies that sought mass deportations, budget cuts, and the restructuring of the federal government.

The lawsuit is seen as a success for academic groups trying to protect foreign professors and students involved in activities supporting the Palestinian cause from the threat of deportation.

Unlike many similar cases that have been closed with swift judgments, Judge Young opted for detailed hearings, considering this to be "the best way to get to the truth."

The American Association of University Professors, along with its branches at Harvard, Rutgers, and New York Universities and the Middle East Studies Association, filed the lawsuit last March, accusing the administration of violating freedom of expression.

During the opening statement, attorney Ramya Krishnan explained that the Departments of State and Homeland Security revoked visas of foreign students and faculty members, arresting and deporting them due to their public support for Palestine.

She added that this policy creates a climate of fear at American universities, referencing the revocation of visas for hundreds of students and researchers and the arrest of some, including Remisa Oztrk, a Turkish-American student at Tufts University, who was arrested after participating in writing an article criticizing the university's response to the war in Gaza.

She explained that these actions came after Trump signed two executive orders in January directing federal agencies to confront "ideologies of hate" and address what he termed "anti-Semitism," following a wave of widespread university protests coinciding with the Israeli war on Gaza.

The lawsuit states that the campaign began with the arrest of Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil in March and then expanded to include the detention and deportation of other students, even though courts ordered their release in most cases.

The administration is also accused of pressuring major universities like Harvard and Columbia, threatening to cut federal funding to compel them to target students and academics involved in Palestinian-supportive activities.

In a related development, a US judge ruled two days ago that President Trump does not have the authority to prevent foreign students from studying at Harvard University, which had previously received a court ruling for a temporary suspension of governmental measures deemed illegal and unconstitutional.