Mahmoud Khalil Hails Judge's Scathing Ruling Against Trump Efforts to Deport Pro-Palestinian Students

A Reagan-appointed judge has issued a scathing ruling rebuking the Trump administration's targeting of pro-Palestine students. Judge William G. Young called the case AAUP v. Rubio perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court" and ruled that contrary to the State Department's claims, non-citizens lawfully present here in [the] United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us."

For more, we're joined by lawyer Alex Abdo, who worked on the case; Todd Wolfson, president of the plaintiff, the American Association of University Professors; and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, whose arrest and targeting by the Trump administration in March kicked off a heightened scrutiny of immigrants living and working on U.S. college campuses. If free speech means anything in this country, it means masked government agents can't pick you up off the street and throw you into jail because of what you've said," explains Abdo. He adds that the ruling will help support Khalil against the Trump administration's ongoing attempt to deport him. Details that emerged during the trial revealed that the Trump administration is continuing to target Khalil to make an example out of me."