A federal judge castigated US President Donald Trump for his efforts to deport pro-Palestinian international students, determining that his administration unlawfully targeted people because of their speech.
On Tuesday, District Court Judge William Young, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan, issued an unusually terse ruling in which he denounced what he called Trump's "invidious", or objectionable, distinction between citizens and foreign nationals in the country, saying the First Amendment's free speech protections extend to all present in the US.
"The First Amendment does not draw President Trump’s invidious distinction, and it is not to be found in our history or jurisprudence. No one’s freedom of speech is unlimited, of course, but these limits are the same for both citizens and non-citizens alike," Young wrote in a 161-page opinion.
Young said Trump's effort to deport pro-Palestinian students "continues unconstitutionally to chill freedom of speech to this day", describing his ruling as the most important in his 40-year federal judicial career.
He sharply rebuked Trump, whom he labelled a "bully" who is "fixated" on security "retribution".
"Yet government retribution for speech (precisely what has happened here) is directly forbidden by the First Amendment. The President’s palpable misunderstanding that the government simply cannot seek retribution for speech he disdains poses a great threat to Americans’ freedom of speech," Young wrote.
A ‘tiger team’
"I fear President Trump believes the American people are so divided that today they will not stand up, fight for, and defend our most precious constitutional values so long as they are lulled into thinking their own personal interests are not affected. Is he correct?" he asked.
During the trial, Assistant Director of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Peter Hatch, said he was told by senior officials to use the shadowy Canary Mission website to identify international student activists for investigation and potential deportation.
Canary Mission targets individuals from academia, the media and other professions, as well as other organisations, who "promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond".
Hatch said a "tiger team" of specialists was quickly formed to work on the deportations based on information from the organisation. The admission marked the first time an official acknowledged using the website, whose funders and operators are shrouded in mystery.
Young said for the team to review all 5,000 names on the Canary Mission website, analysts were reassigned from multiple Homeland Security intelligence units, including counterintelligence, counterterrorism and global trade intelligence. The list, he wrote, "made up the bulk of the sources for HSI’s investigations".
Young did not lay out corrective actions in his order, but noted that he will "promptly" schedule a hearing to determine which remedies he will require.
