The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Middle East Studies Association (Mesa) have sued the Trump administration to block the deportation of foreign students who have voiced pro-Palestinian sentiments. This comes after the detainment of Columbia University graduate and green card holder Mahmoud Khalil, and Indian post-doctoral student at Georgetown Badar Khalil, after their vocal, pro-Palestinian statements.
This lawsuit alleges that these arrests are just the tip of the iceberg for more ideological-deportation of anyone who criticizes the government. By construing pro-Gaza and anti-Israel sentiments as pro-Hamas, the Trump administration is deliberately suppressing freedom of expression according to the academics’ lawsuit.
Marco Rubio, one of the main plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, used the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act to obtain power to deem any form of criticism against Israel “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the US.”
Lead attorney in the case, Ramya Krishnan, compared Rubio’s use of this law to McCarthyism and the anti-communist witch-hunt of the 1950s. Krishnan also warned that the administration is using this as a dry run to further hamper the first-amendment rights of all Americans, with even naturalized citizens being unsafe. With the administration already pursuing denaturalization and starting with widely-disliked groups, there’s nothing to say that even groups that aren’t widely-disliked but still deemed enemies of the state won’t be at risk further down the line.
