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** For Immediate Release: June 17, 2025
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** Weaponizing Immigration: Trump Admin. Accused of Using Deportation Powers to Punish Protesters, Chill Political Speech
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NEWARK, NJ — Warning that the Trump administration’s actions likely pose a serious threat to constitutional rights, ([link removed]) a federal judge has temporarily blocked the government from deporting a legal U.S. resident under a little-used statute that allows the Secretary of State to deport non-citizens for expressing views deemed contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests.

Although the Supreme Court affirmed in 1945 that freedom of speech applies to all persons within the United States, including non-citizens, the Trump Administration has systematically weaponized its immigration enforcement in order to punish political dissent, targeting university students engaged in peaceful political protests for arrests, detentions and deportations.

Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate married to a U.S. citizen and father to a newborn, was arrested ([link removed]) on March 8, 2025, by agents with the Department of Homeland Security for his vocal yet nonviolent criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. In coming to Mahmoud Khalil’s defense ([link removed]) , a legal coalition that includes The Rutherford Institute and FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) warned ([link removed]) that allowing deportation based on a government official’s disapproval of someone’s speech threatens free expression for everyone.

“Political speech—even when unpopular or controversial—is protected under the Constitution,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People ([link removed]) . “If non-citizens can be jailed or deported simply for criticizing government policy, then we’re all at risk. The First Amendment protects everyone on American soil—citizen or not—but this case threatens to undermine that fundamental freedom.”
MAKE THE GOVERNMENT PLAY BY THE RULES OF THE CONSTITUTION: SUPPORT THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM ([link removed])

Although Mahmoud Khalil has not been accused of any vandalism or physical violence related to his protest activity at Columbia University, he was arrested ([link removed]) and transported to an out-of-state detention center in Louisiana where he remains in ICE custody, far from his attorneys and family.

In response to a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus ([link removed]) , asking for Khalil’s release, the federal court granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the government from detaining or deporting Khalil based on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s determination that Khalil’s nonviolent protest activity would compromise a U.S. foreign policy interest—a determination which the court found likely violates due process rights when coupled with First Amendment protections. The judge warned that if such a law can be used against Khalil, “then other, similar statutes can also one day be made to apply. Not just in the removal context, as to foreign nationals. But also in the criminal context, as to everyone. ([link removed]) ” The
court further invoked a chilling analogy ([link removed]) : “Imagine…how quickly our constitutional [alarms] would rise if a local police chief were granted the power to arrest any person whose mere presence would cause potentially serious adverse consequences for the public peace.”

The court gave the Trump administration 40 hours to appeal or release Khalil ([link removed]) from this charge. However, government lawyers did neither. ([link removed]) Instead, the Trump administration pivoted, justifying Khalil’s ongoing detention on a second charge for allegedly failing to disclose that he was a member of certain humanitarian organizations—such as the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees—on his 2024 application for lawful permanent residence.

Ronnie London, Conor Fitzpatrick, Will Creeley, and others at FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) advanced the arguments in the Khalil v. Trump amicus brief ([link removed]) .

The Rutherford Institute ([link removed]) , a nonprofit civil liberties organization, defends individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.
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**
Case History
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March 20, 2025 • Deporting Non-Citizen Protesters Sets a Dangerous Precedent of Punishment and Retaliation for All Americans ([link removed])

Litigation: New Jersey District Court
* Amicus brief ([link removed])
* NJ District Court: Initial Ruling ([link removed])
* NJ District Court: Concluding Ruling ([link removed])
* Trump Admin. Letter Refusing Release ([link removed])
* NJ District Court: Order Denying Release ([link removed])

This press release is also available at www.rutherford.org ([link removed]) .


**
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Nisha Whitehead
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