BY MIRABEL ODETA
A federal judge on Thursday sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s administration, describing its actions as “authoritarian” as he announced plans to issue an order protecting non-citizen academics who challenged the arrest and deportation of pro-Palestinian activists on U.S. college campuses.
Speaking during a hearing in Boston, U.S. District Judge William Young said the order, which he expects to issue within a week, would prevent the administration from altering the immigration status of non-citizen academics involved in the lawsuit.
Young said any attempt to change their status would be presumed to be retaliation for their participation in the case, shifting the burden to the government to prove in court that any deportation effort was based on legitimate and lawful reasons.
Young’s remarks build on a strongly worded ruling he issued in September, in which he concluded that the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security violated the First Amendment by chilling the free speech rights of non-citizen academics nationwide. In that decision, the judge said the administration’s actions had created a climate of fear within universities, discouraging lawful expression and academic debate.
“The big problem in this case is that the cabinet secretaries, and ostensibly the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment,” Young said from the bench. Appointed by former Republican President Ronald Reagan, Young said the administration’s curtailment of free speech was “appalling” and reflected what he described as a “fearful approach to freedom” among senior officials.
Addressing his use of the term “authoritarian,” Young said he was choosing his words carefully. He said the president appeared to believe that executive authority under Article II of the Constitution requires absolute compliance throughout the executive branch whenever he speaks, an approach the judge suggested runs counter to constitutional limits and protections.
The White House pushed back strongly against the judge’s comments. Spokesperson Anna Kelly said it was “bizarre” that the judge was, in her words, “broadcasting his intent to engage in left-wing activism against the democratically elected president of the United States.” The administration has already said it plans to appeal Young’s September ruling.
Young said his forthcoming order would be limited in scope, applying only to members of academic organizations that brought the lawsuit, including the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association. He rejected requests to block the administration’s practices nationwide, calling such relief overly broad.
The lawsuit was filed last year following the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate who became the first high-profile target of Trump’s effort to deport non-citizen students involved in pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel activism.
Immigration authorities arrested Khalil in March, citing executive orders Trump signed in January 2025 directing federal agencies to intensify efforts to combat antisemitism in the wake of campus protests over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Since then, the administration has revoked visas, detained students and scholars, and pursued deportation cases against several individuals. Among them was Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student arrested in Massachusetts after co-authoring an opinion piece critical of her university’s response to the Gaza conflict. Both Khalil and Ozturk were later released from immigration custody following intervention by federal judges reviewing their cases.
However, the legal battle continues. A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling in Khalil’s case, potentially allowing immigration authorities to detain him again. Khalil has said he intends to appeal that decision, ensuring the broader constitutional fight over academic freedom, free speech, and immigration enforcement
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