A federal judge has ruled the Trump administration cannot deport foreign students for expressing support for terrorist organizations.
U.S. District Judge Noel Wise, based in the Northern District of California, blocked Secretary of State Marco Rubio from using the Immigration and Nationality Act to remove individuals on the basis of their stated support for terror groups. The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by the Stanford Daily Publishing Company on behalf of an anonymous foreign student who alleged violations of the First and Fifth Amendments.
In her decision, Wise wrote that freedom of speech in the United States “belongs to the people” and is “not the government’s to take.” She added, “Here you can simultaneously hate the content of a person’s speech and love the country that cherishes the freedom to allow it.” She also called zealous protection of free speech “a provocative demonstration of our country’s powerful lack of fear.”
As originally reported, Wise summarized the core of the case in her own written decision, describing the plaintiffs’ allegations this way: since March 2025, the government has arrested, detained, and deported students on F-1 visas for expressing opinions it dislikes, including showing support or empathy for Palestinian people, or criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The State Department pushed back firmly. A spokesperson told Politico that the United States “is under no obligation to admit or suffer the presence of individuals who subvert our laws and deny our citizens their Constitutional rights.” The spokesperson added that the department remains committed to national security through its visa process, and closed with a pointed reminder: “A visa is a privilege, not a right.”
The ruling drew sharp criticism from prominent voices on the right. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) had previously called Wise’s political views “insane” during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. That criticism centered on Wise’s suggestion that laws separating bathroom use by biological sex constituted a “violation of church and state.”
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, weighed in after the ruling dropped. Responding to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Musk called the decision “madness.” Miller had written that a district court judge was effectively ordering America to “admit and keep foreigners who hate America and hate Americans,” calling it “court-ordered civilizational suicide” and warning it “will not stand.”
The case now sits at the intersection of immigration authority, national security, and First Amendment protections, with the administration likely to contest the ruling at a higher level. Whether federal appellate courts agree with Wise’s interpretation of constitutional speech protections as a shield against visa revocation remains to be seen.