U.S. District Judge William Young has ordered a trial on the merits in the American Association of University Professors et al. v. Marco Rubio case, challenging the administration’s systematic campaign to arrest, disappear, detain, and deport pro-Palestinian student protesters and advocates. The targets of this crusade include Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, Yunseo Chung, and Badar Khan Suri. All of them claim that the government sought to deport them on the basis of their constitutionally protected antiwar speech. However, their freedom to remain in the U.S. is tenuous, and the government still wants them reincarcerated, back in immigration court, or fighting for their chance to remain or study in the U.S. The truth about how and why ICE hunted them down has been somewhat elusive, but the administration has been brutally honest about its intentions. The case has sparked a debate on the First Amendment and higher education, with some arguing that the government is looking for ” lunatics” tearing things up.
The State Department and other immigration authorities have been responsible for the blacklisting and detention of international students, scholars, and academics, leading to a chilling effect on their online presence and protest activity. This has led to a lack of official account of the chilling effect on these students, who now feel they must self-censor or retreat from public life. The case of A.A.U.P. v. Rubio focuses on the students’ fear of being next in line of fire, highlighting the wealth of truth and its broader effects. Judge Young, who is the sole arbiter of the facts and law, has kept to strict time limits and focused on the issues at hand, including the violation of First Amendment rights and evidence of government liability. The plaintiffs, the American Association of University Professors, three of its chapters, and the Middle East Studies Association, allege a different kind of harm: their inability to fully exercise their right to teach, write, organize, and collaborate with one another.
