{"id":47610,"date":"2026-01-16T15:11:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=47610"},"modified":"2026-01-16T15:11:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:11:24","slug":"judge-to-protect-noncitizen-academics-testifying-in-case-from-authoritarian-trump-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/01\/16\/judge-to-protect-noncitizen-academics-testifying-in-case-from-authoritarian-trump-donald-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge to protect noncitizen academics testifying in case from \u2018authoritarian\u2019 Trump | Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">A federal judge described Donald Trump as an authoritarian and accused his administration of \u201can unconstitutional conspiracy to pick off certain people\u201d in its aggressive pursuit of non-US citizen, pro-Palestinian activists on American college campuses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The judge in Boston, who was appointed by Republican president Ronald Reagan, said on Thursday that he will issue an order aimed at protecting academics who challenged the arrest and deportation such activists, including some of the highest-profile cases such as those of Mahmoud Khalil and R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">At a hearing, US district judge William Young outlined an order he will issue in a week that seeks to prevent the Trump administration from changing the immigration status of any academics in the case he is handling who are themselves noncitizens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Any such change by the administration would be presumed to \u201cbe in retribution for their participation in this lawsuit\u201d, the judge said. Young said he would then require the government to prove in court it was seeking to deport any such people for \u201cappropriate\u201d reasons.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"e65b356b-7bb3-4199-9ee6-cb21b12777d0\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-47fhrn\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{&quot;richLinkIndex&quot;:4,&quot;element&quot;:{&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement&quot;,&quot;prefix&quot;:&quot;Related: &quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;ACLU sues Trump administration over \u2018racial profiling and unlawful arrests\u2019 in Minnesota ICE surge&quot;,&quot;elementId&quot;:&quot;e65b356b-7bb3-4199-9ee6-cb21b12777d0&quot;,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;richLink&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jan\/15\/aclu-lawsuit-ice-minnesota-trump&quot;},&quot;ajaxUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk&quot;,&quot;format&quot;:{&quot;design&quot;:0,&quot;display&quot;:0,&quot;theme&quot;:0},&quot;isInStarRatingVariant&quot;:false}\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In a September ruling that sharply criticized Trump\u2019s actions, the judge concluded the US state and homeland security departments violated the US constitution\u2019s first amendment by chilling the free speech of noncitizen academics at universities nationally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe big problem in this case is that the cabinet secretaries, and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the first amendment,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He called the administration\u2019s abridgment of first amendment rights \u201cappalling\u201d, and said top officials under Trump had adopted \u201ca fearful approach to freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWe cast around the word \u2018authoritarian\u2019,\u201d Young said. \u201cI don\u2019t, in this context, treat that in a pejorative sense, and I use it carefully, but it\u2019s fairly clear that this president believes, as an authoritarian, that when he speaks, everyone, everyone in Article II is going to toe the line absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Article II is the part of the constitution governing the executive branch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">White House spokesperson Anna Kelly in a statement called it \u201cbizarre that this judge is broadcasting his intent to engage in leftwing activism against the democratically elected president of the United States\u201d. The administration previously said it would appeal Young\u2019s September decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The judge criticized the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, for targeting activists and academics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He said: \u201cI find it breathtaking that I have been compelled on the evidence to find the conduct of such high-level officers of our government \u2013 cabinet secretaries \u2013 conspired to infringe the first amendment rights of people with such rights here in the United States. These cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Young said he would limit the reach of his forthcoming order to members of academic associations including the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association that challenged the administration\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n<figure data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.NewsletterSignupBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\"><gu-island name=\"EmailSignUpWrapper\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"visible\" props=\"{&quot;index&quot;:14,&quot;listId&quot;:6042,&quot;identityName&quot;:&quot;the-stakes-us-election-edition&quot;,&quot;description&quot;:&quot;A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;This Week in Trumpland&quot;,&quot;frequency&quot;:&quot;At least once a week&quot;,&quot;successDescription&quot;:&quot;You are subscribed&quot;,&quot;theme&quot;:&quot;news&quot;,&quot;idApiUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/idapi.theguardian.com&quot;,&quot;hideNewsletterSignupComponentForSubscribers&quot;:true}\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Those groups had sought an order blocking the administration\u2019s practices nationally, but Young said that was \u201cover broad\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The lawsuit in question was filed last year after immigration authorities in March arrested recent Columbia University graduate Khalil, the first target of Trump\u2019s effort to deport noncitizen students with pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel views.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Department of Homeland Security, in announcing Khalil\u2019s arrest, cited executive orders Trump signed in January 2025 directing federal agencies to \u201cvigorously\u201d combat antisemitism after college campus protests over Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Since then, the administration has canceled the visas of other students and scholars and arrested several, including \u00d6zt\u00fcrk, a Tufts University student who was taken into custody in Massachusetts after cowriting an opinion piece criticizing her school\u2019s response to the Gaza war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Both have since been released from immigration custody at the direction of federal judges hearing challenges to their detention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned the ruling in Khalil\u2019s case, opening the door to his eventual re-detention. He plans to appeal that decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Judge #protect #noncitizen #academics #testifying #case #authoritarian #Trump #Donald #Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge described Donald Trump as an authoritarian and accused his administration of \u201can unconstitutional conspiracy to pick off&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47611,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47610\/revisions\/47611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}