Federal Judge Rules Trump's Visa Revocations Over Pro-Palestinian Speech Violated the First Amendment

U.S. District Judge Noel Wise ruled on Aug. 28, 2026 that the administration's use of the Immigration and Nationality Act to revoke international students' visas over pro-Palestinian activism violated the First and Fifth Amendments. In a 90-page opinion, Wise found "one clear pattern in the enforcement actions the government has taken to revoke noncitizens' visas": that "the secretary revokes visas when noncitizens are critical of the government or the causes or people it favors."\n\nThe provision at issue lets the secretary of state authorize removal of a person deemed to jeopardize a compelling foreign policy interest. Wise concluded that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials used it to retaliate against protected speech, writing that "free speech, including the freedom to criticize the government and its leaders, is not a sign of our democracy's fragility. It is evidence of its strength."\n\nThe suit was brought last year by The Stanford Daily, Stanford's independent student newspaper, along with two anonymous plaintiffs, against Rubio and then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The paper said writers on student visas had avoided covering protests for fear of deportation. The State Department and DHS had not commented.