A federal judge has ruled that the government violated the First and Fifth amendments by using immigration laws to threaten noncitizens with visa revocation and deportation based on their protected speech.
U.S. District Judge Noël Wise of the Northern District of California issued the ruling Friday in a lawsuit filed by Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation and an unnamed foreign student in the country on a lawful visa.
The plaintiffs alleged that the government targeted foreign students who expressed support for Palestinians or criticized Israel’s actions, calling it an “ideological-deportation policy.”
The lawsuit challenged provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allow the secretary of state to revoke visas and seek the removal of noncitizens whose presence or activities could create “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the United States. …