Nate Raymond
BOSTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) – A federal judge said on Thursday he would issue an order aimed at preventing President Donald Trump’s administration from “retaliating” against academics who challenge its arrest, detention and expulsion of non-citizen pro-Palestinian activists from U.S. college campuses.
U.S. District Judge William Young spoke during a hearing in federal court in Boston after he found in September that the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by suppressing the free speech of non-citizen academics on college campuses.
“The biggest problem in this case is that the cabinet secretary, and ostensibly the president of the United States, failed to abide by the First Amendment,” Young said.
Young, who was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, has criticized other Trump actions in the past, calling the administration’s behavior “appalling” and saying it has “a terrible attitude toward freedom.”
The judge said he would limit the scope of his order to members of academic associations that have challenged the government’s actions, including the American Association of University Professors and the Association for Middle Eastern Studies.
The groups sought an order to block the government’s approach nationwide. Yang called their proposals “overbroad” but said “sanctions” were needed to correct what he saw as machinations by senior officials under Trump.
“We use the word ‘dictatorship,'” Yang said. “I don’t use it in a pejorative way in this context, and I use it cautiously, but it’s clear that this president believes, as a dictator, that when he speaks, everyone in Article II will absolutely follow the rules.”
Yang said he would issue an order presumptively that any changes to the immigration status of members of these groups are retaliation for their involvement in the case and require the government to prove in court that it is seeking to deport them for other “appropriate” reasons.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Deepa Babington)
