Reagan-appointed judge rules Trump violated free-speech rights of pro-Palestinian foreign students

A U.S. judge ruled against the actions taken by the Trump administration against pro-Palestinian student protesters from foreign countries.

U.S. District Judge William Young of Boston said in the scathing ruling that President Donald Trump violated the free-speech rights of student protesters when he sought to revoke their visas and send them back to their home countries.

‘Studying in the United States is a privilege that the Trump administration will not allow to foreign nationals who endanger America’s national security or imperil campus safety.’

Young accused officials of the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security of targeting noncitizen students for deportation “primarily on account of their First Amendment protected political speech” used to protest against Israel.

“They did so in order to strike fear into similarly situated non-citizen pro-Palestinian individuals, pro-actively (and effectively) curbing lawful pro-Palestinian speech and intentionally denying such individuals (including the plaintiffs here) the freedom of speech that is their right,” he wrote in the 161-page ruling.

Young characterized the president’s actions as a threat to free speech.

“The President’s palpable misunderstanding that the government simply cannot seek retribution for speech he disdains poses a great threat to Americans’ freedom of speech,” he wrote. “I fear President Trump believes the American people are so divided that today they will not stand up, fight for, and defend our most precious constitutional values so long as they are lulled into thinking their own personal interests are not affected.”

Young also compared the wearing of masks by federal agents to the KKK.

“To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan,” he wrote. “In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police.”

White House spokesperson Liz Huston said the administration would appeal the ruling.

“Studying in the United States is a privilege that the Trump administration will not allow to foreign nationals who endanger America’s national security or imperil campus safety,” Huston added.

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Huston described the ruling as “an outrageous ruling that hampers the safety and security of our nation.”

Young was appointed to the court by President Ronald Reagan and is 85 years old.

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