When the court fought for the revocation of Trump’s administration of a foreign student visa heats up, a federal judge in Boston was considering the question whether those in the United States who were not protected citizens under the same constitutional rights for freedom of speech with US citizens.
During the court hearing at Massachusetts who prepared the trial in a lawsuit that challenged the revocation of the Trump Administration Student Visa, Judge William Young suggested that “unclear” for him that non -citizens had “full rights for freedom of speech” owned by citizens, because Trump’s government tried to use the speech of several international students to justify their deportation.
“I found that it was assumed by a number of my colleagues in related cases that deal with freedom of speech in a lower court, but I am not clear that it is not a citizen, I will call it, the full rights for the freedom of speech owned by citizens,” said the Judge who was appointed by Reagan.
“I hope we do not do it in this case, but I do not see how it will succeed if not citizens have the same rights as citizens to talk about this issue,” the judge said that the question must be answered by the Supreme Court.
People gathered to support Tufts Rumeysa Ozturk University students and Columbia University Student activists Mohsen Mahdawi at Foley Square on May 6, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
In March, the American University Professor Association, Middle East Study Association and other organizations representing academics and students at the University, including Harvard University, sued Trump’s administration, claimed that recent government efforts to revoke visas and detain and deport pro-Palestinian activists have “created a climate of repression and fear on university campuses.”
The groups have accused Trump’s administration of “terrorizing students and faculties of the implementation of the first amendment rights,” While the government has tried to dispose of this case, rejecting the claim that Trump’s administration enforces the “ideological deportation.”
This case is expected to continue to the trial in July.
During the trial on Tuesday, Young stressed this was “really a case of freedom of speech,” explaining that the two high-ranking officials, including the president, and their criticism is protected under freedom of speech, no matter how “brutal, rude, demeaning” his speech.
He also determined that he considered pro-Palestinian advocacy and criticism of the state of Israel, as well as antisemitism, freedom of speech because hate speech was not prohibited under the first amendment.
What the court wants to find through the trial, said the judge, is whether the federal government “retaliates” against people for their speech for the terrible effect, which the plaintiff and the government claimed to denies.
“We must find out what happened – what the plaintiff said was an actual retaliation of the speaker?” Young said.
Mohsen Mahdawi spoke outside the court building after a judge released a Palestinian student activist, April 30, 2025 in Burlington, VT.
Amanda Swinhart/AP
The judge added that he was also looking for detailed explanations from the government about visa extraction, the process of detention and deportation.
“When we go down to the level of ice enforcement agents … I want to know what is happening. Why are they armed or masked or not or identified or not – all of that. What happens and why? Who governs it? Who governs this business with Mahdawi in Vermont?” The judge said, referring to the case of Palestinian Columbia University students Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested in the citizenship interview and recently was released.