Fighting The Trump Administration's 'Unchecked Power' To Deport Noncitizen Students

The following article was made possible by paid subscribers of The Dissenter. Become a subscriber and support journalism on press freedom, whistleblowing, and government secrecy.

The student newspaper at Stanford University in California has observed a “dramatic decrease in the number of international students willing to speak” to reporters. Their fear stems from President Donald Trump and his administration’s targeting of international students, like Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, and Mohsen Madawi, for engaging in protected political speech. 

“Several international members of our own staff even left their positions” at the Stanford Daily, editors for the newspaper noted. “Many of those who stayed requested to stop writing news articles related to protests or political events on campus and asked that their previous articles be taken off our website.”

To challenge the chilling effect created by the Trump administration, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sued Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on behalf of Stanford’s student newspaper and two unnamed students. 

The lawsuit filed on August 6 alleges that Rubio and the Trump administration aim to “turn the inalienable human right of free speech into a privilege contingent upon the whims of a federal bureaucrat, triggering deportation proceedings against noncitizens residing lawfully in this country for their protected political speech regarding American and Israeli foreign policy.”

“The Secretary of State and the President claim to possess unreviewable statutory authority to deport any lawfully present noncitizen for speech the government deems anti-American or anti-Israel,” it adds. 

Particularly, Rubio has weaponized two provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act—one provision that grants the secretary the authority to seek the removal of any noncitizen who “compromises a compelling foreign policy interest” and one that permits the secretary to revoke the visas of noncitizens “at any time.”

FIRE insists that it is unconstitutional to “revoke a visa or deport someone for speech the First Amendment protects.” The organization further contends, “America’s founding principle is that liberty comes not from the government, but is an inherent right of every individual. Every person — whether they’re a U.S. citizen, are visiting for the week, or are here on a student visa — has free speech rights in this country.”

Such speech rights extend to the student newspaper at Stanford, where “writers present on student visas are declining assignments” that relate to Israel’s attacks on Palestinians and ethnic cleansing of Gaza. 

“Jane Doe” has a student visa and is apparently listed by the Canary Mission, which blacklists students for engaging in advocacy for Palestinians in an effort to make them unemployable after they graduate.

“A Trump administration official testified that ‘most of the names’ of individuals targeted for deportation based on pro-Palestinian advocacy come from Canary Mission,” according to the lawsuit. “Since March 2025, fearing Secretary Rubio will revoke her visa under the Revocation Provision or render her deportable under the Deportation Provision, Jane Doe has refrained from publishing and voicing her true opinions regarding Palestine and Israel.”

Similarly, “John Doe,” who has a student visa, refrained from publishing work and engaging in pro-Palestinian advocacy after Khalil, Madawi, and Öztürk were abducted and detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. He “refrained” from “publishing a study related to Gaza.” After resuming his journalism and pro-Palestinian advocacy, he now fears that his visa could be revoked and he may be deported.

Two additional examples from the Daily further reflect the impact of the Trump administration. “In March 2025, a lawfully present noncitizen editor on staff decided to quit [the] Stanford Daily because of the student’s nonimmigrant visa status.” They feared that their visa would be revoked and that they would be deported if they were “associated” with “articles about Israel or Palestine.”

“One lawfully present noncitizen student on staff signed up to cover a story about a vigil that brought together Jewish and Palestinian families to honor those who died in the conflict in Gaza. The student attended, took notes, and interviewed sources. But because of the student’s nonimmigrant visa status, and fear that they may face adverse immigration consequences if they published the article, the student decided against publishing the article.”

The student newspaper has had to deal with requests from international students to remove their articles. One staff writer asked for all their articles “about Israeli and Palestinian officials, as well as other foreign affairs topics, to be removed.” An editorial board member asked for an article that they wrote about the Israeli military to be taken down. 

Requests to remove articles are not limited to current students. Former student journalists have asked that their opinion editorials, quotes they provided, or names in bylines or articles be removed. 

“The chill is amplified because Secretary Rubio and Secretary Noem’s enforcement of the Deportation Provision and Revocation Provision has entailed ambush arrests by masked agents accompanied by prolonged detention in ICE holding facilities thousands of miles from detainees’ homes,” according to the complaint.

Earlier this year, U.S. Judge Michael E. Farbiarz heard arguments over Khalil’s detention. While Farbiarz initially declined to order his release, he recognized that Rubio’s enforcement of the provisions against Khalil were likely unconstitutional.

“[A]rbitrary enforcement is not just a danger when many people enforce the law. It can also be a danger when one person is given the job, if his determination veers too far away from the standard set down by Congress. Here, the Secretary’s did,” Farbiarz ruled [PDF]. 

For anyone who thinks that noncitizens have no First Amendment protections, FIRE recalled that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bridges v. Wixon (1945) that “freedom of speech and of the press is accorded aliens residing in this country.” 

Both Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg agreed that anyone present in the U.S. had protections under the U.S. Constitution just like Americans who live abroad.  

What Rubio, Noem, and other Trump officials have done is engage in political repression against any international student who they believe might openly oppose their administration. The Intercept published a broader report August 23 that Indian journalist Kaushik Raj, who was stunningly denied a student visa to participate in a master’s program in the United States. 

The Trump administration claimed that he lacked ties to his home country of India, which is ludicrous. His whole family lives in India. “I am being punished for my journalism, for my views,” Raj told the Intercept.

Suing the Trump administration to protect the rights of international students was not political, according to The Daily. As The Intercept report described, it is estimated that there could be 150,000 fewer international students in the U.S. during the fall semester. 

“[J]ournalism exists to hold those in power accountable, regardless of who is in power,” editors for The Daily proclaimed. “Our participation in this lawsuit has been to guard our First Amendment rights and ensure The Daily’s writers and editors can fulfill our mandate as a student paper: covering campus to the best of our abilities.”

“The freedom for all students to speak with and contribute to The Daily is core to that mission.”

Trump officials may have started with repressing international students who speak out on Gaza and Palestinian human rights, but it would not take much effort to expand this repression to additional global issues and the U.S. role in perpetuating violence or injustice.

Like FIRE argues, it is blatant viewpoint discrimination for the government to “take adverse actions against protected speech by targeting its foreign policy critics with deportation.”