‘They fear deportation’: University student newspaper sues Trump admin over free speech
Stanford University’s student newspaper, The Stanford Daily, is suing the Trump administration over revoking the visas of or deporting students over free speech, according to a Wednesday filing.
“There’s real fear on campus and it reaches into the newsroom,” Greta Reich, editor-in-chief of The Stanford Daily, said in a statement. “I’ve had reporters turn down assignments, request the removal of some of their articles and even quit the paper because they fear deportation for being associated with speaking on political topics, even in a journalistic capacity. The Daily is losing the voices of a significant portion of our student population.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, also known as FIRE, is representing the newspaper. There are two unnamed people also part of the suit.
The two are legal noncitizens without criminal records who have been part of pro-Palestinian speech and fear deportation or visa revocation.
“It’s the first lawsuit of its kind and represents one of the most significant pushbacks yet against the Trump administration’s trampling of free speech since he returned to office,” FIRE said in a statement.
The lawsuit aims to end the federal government’s use of two provisions it’s using to deport students for their expression — by claiming they are unconstitutional — according to FIRE.
The first allows the Secretary of State to “initiate deportation proceedings against any noncitizen for protected speech if the secretary “ personally determines ” the speech “compromises a compelling foreign policy interest,” the organization said.
The other allows the Secretary of State to revoke noncitizen visas at any time for any reason.
FIRE is asking for a preliminary injunction.
“In the United States of America, no one should fear a midnight knock on the door for voicing the wrong opinion,” the lawsuit reads.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration are trying 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,” it later continues.
The lawsuit mentions Rümeysa Öztürk , a Tufts doctoral student, and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil both of whom were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and had associations with pro-Palestinian activism.
“Two lawful residents of the United States holding the same sign at the same protest shouldn’t be treated differently just because one’s here on a visa,” said FIRE Legal Director Will Creeley. “The First Amendment bars the government from punishing protected speech — period. In our free country, you shouldn’t have to show your papers to speak your mind.”
In Massachusetts, student-run news outlets at Boston’s colleges and universities have similarly adjusted their usual policies.
With Harvard University and other institutions facing attacks against international students’ ability to study in the country , Boston college newspapers have received an unprecedented number of requests to remove the names of current or former international students from past articles or to take down opinion pieces the students wrote.
As a result, some outlets have changed their policies for allowing anonymous sources in news stories and altering past stories.
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