Call it the Mahmoud Khalil rule. Khalil, the Columbia graduate student who was ordered deported for omissions on his green card application and for supporting a foreign terrorist organization, still hasn't been deported. ICE arrested him in March 2025, and the last we heard, a judge ruled that he could not be held in detention while his legal battle played out.
Now, another judge has ruled it unconstitutional to deport noncitizens based on speech, even in support of terrorism.
BREAKING: Biden-appointed judge Noel Wise just ruled that the Trump admin CANNOT deport foreigners who express support for terrorist organizations pic.twitter.com/3XGqklfzqH
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 31, 2026
POLITICO reports:
A federal judge on Friday declared that the Trump administration’s efforts to deport noncitizens for political speech run counter to the Constitution’s First and Fifth Amendments, the latest legal rebuke of the White House’s expansive immigration agenda
Northern District of California Judge Noël Wise, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, sided with the Stanford Daily, which sued Secretary of State Marco Rubio, arguing that his use of the Immigration and Nationality Act to deport noncitizen students had foreign students refraining from writing opinion pieces critical of the administration.
A federal judge on Friday declared that the Trump administration’s efforts to deport noncitizens for political speech run counter to the Constitution’s First and Fifth Amendments, the latest legal rebuke of the White House’s expansive immigration agenda.
Northern District of California Judge Noël Wise, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, sided with the Stanford Daily, which sued Secretary of State Marco Rubio, arguing that his use of the Immigration and Nationality Act to deport noncitizen students had foreign students refraining from writing opinion pieces critical of the administration.
”In the United States, freedom of speech belongs to the people,” Wise wrote in her opinion. “It is not the government’s to take.”
Another plaintiff was an unnamed woman who is a lawful noncitizen in the U.S. who was previously in the country on a student visa at a school that was not Stanford and “has refrained from publishing and voicing her true opinions regarding Palestine and Israel and has deleted a social media account to guard against retaliation for past expression,” according to court documents.
“Here you can simultaneously hate the content of a person’s speech and love the country that cherishes the freedom to allow it,” Wise wrote. “Zealous protection of our Constitutional right to free speech is a provocative demonstration of our country’s powerful lack of fear.”
Recommended
In the United States, freedom of speech belongs to citizens.
A district court judge says America must admit and keep foreigners who hate America and hate Americans. Court-ordered civilizational suicide. It will not stand. https://t.co/8FXvpWkpEq
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) August 30, 2026
A student visa is permission to be here. It should never become a shield for foreigners who openly side against the country that admitted them. How did America lose the basic authority to decide who gets to stay here?
— Dan Holbrook (@DanHolbrook) August 30, 2026
Freedom of speech is a right of American Citizens, not foreigners on student visas. I stand with Marco Rubio and the constitution, deport them.
— Paul Toudouze (@PaulToudouze) August 30, 2026
Madness
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 31, 2026
Suicidal empathy illustrated.
— WannabeAnglican (@WannabeAnglican) August 31, 2026
Impeach, remove, revoke pension
— Pooka Luck (@MuchLuck) August 31, 2026
Democrat judges are forcing the United States to KEEP supporters of foreign terrorist organizations in the country.
— Heartland Grump - The Rightest Voice on the Right (@heartland_grump) August 31, 2026
The biggest danger to America is not the terrorists themselves, but the Democrats who support and protect them.
The bane of western civilization... the white liberal female. Robe or not.
— Tom Pessa (@RedWhiteandTom) August 31, 2026
hmmm... now why would she do that? pic.twitter.com/lmTJfv7pda
— Umm Imagine (@UmmImagine) August 31, 2026
A visa is an invitation, not a constitutional timeshare. Citizens get the First Amendment. Foreigners get a guest pass the host can pull. A Biden judge in California doesn’t get to turn support for terrorist groups into a protected tenancy.
— Kimberly🇺🇲 (@the_bird_sings) August 31, 2026
This will be overturned. 8 USC 1182(a)(3)(B)(i)(VII) makes noncitizens who endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization inadmissible (and thus deportable under 1227(a)(4)(B)).
— Boxjockey (@JerryHinson16) August 31, 2026
Hey, look … the law!
When can we start deporting rogue judges who serve to protect foreigners over American citizens?
— MrsFarkas🇺🇸 (@MrsFarkas_) August 31, 2026
We need to go after not only these activist judges but also the NGOs that are funding the lawsuits from these students like Khalil. How has he managed to keep his case going for almost a year and a half? Someone's paying his legal bills. As far as we know, he doesn't even have a job apart from full-time activist.
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