US judge to shield scholars who challenged deporting of pro-Palestinian campus activists
Source: Reuters
January 15, 2026 8:58 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago
BOSTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Describing President Donald Trump as an "authoritarian," a federal judge said on Thursday he will issue an order aimed at protecting academics who challenged the arrest and deportation of non-citizen, pro-Palestinian activists on college campuses.
At a hearing in Boston, U.S. District Judge William Young outlined an order he will issue in a week that seeks to prevent the administration from changing the immigration status of any academics in the case who are themselves non-citizens. Any such change by the administration would be presumed to "be in retribution for their participation in this lawsuit," the judge said. Young said he would then require the government to prove in court it was seeking to deport them for "appropriate" reasons.
In a September ruling that sharply criticized Trump's actions, the judge concluded the departments of State and Homeland Security violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by chilling the free speech of non-citizen academics at universities nationally. "The big problem in this case is that the cabinet secretaries, and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment," Young said.
Young, who was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, called the administration's abridgment of First Amendment rights "appalling," and said top officials under Trump had adopted "a fearful approach to freedom."
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-restrict-trump-efforts-deport-pro-palestinian-campus-activists-2026-01-15/
REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143539763