ICE Won't Rule Out Retaliating Against Immigrants Who Testify in Free Speech Case
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Plainclothes officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement wait in a hallway outside of a courtroom at New York-Federal Plaza Immigration Court inside the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in New York City on June 6, 2025. Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
In March, a group of scholars filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block the government from detaining and deporting students and professors for speaking out about Palestine.
Now, as the case heads to trial in Massachusetts federal court in July, those professors and students worry they may be targeted by immigration officials for speaking out in the courtroom on the witness stand.
But the Trump administration is refusing to reassure them they won't be subject to retaliation.
As attorneys for the scholars prepared to file a motion to protect their witnesses — many of whom are in the country under green cards or visas — from being detained or deported for testifying during trial, government attorneys refused to agree to such safeguards, according to recent legal filings in the case.
In their refusal, government attorneys said that their clients, which include the Department of Homeland Security as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 'did not want to be bound by an agreement preventing them from taking action against individuals whose identities they did not know yet,' the filings said.
When the scholars' attorneys clarified that the motion would only protect witnesses from being targeted for participating in the case, attorneys for DHS and ICE doubled down in their opposition to the protection and challenged them to instead have the judge decide whether to grant the order.
'Defendants' counsel reiterated that the agencies were 'not comfortable' with such a proposal,' the scholars' attorneys said in the filing, 'and advised us to 'go ahead and ask the judge to rule on it.''
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The original complaint — lodged by the American Association of University Professors; its chapters at Harvard, Rutgers, and New York University; and the Middle East Studies Association — was filed days after immigration agents abducted Columbia University graduate and Palestinian organizer Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident who had recently obtained a green card. Among its defendants is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has led the hunt for pro-Palestinian activists, including a campaign to scour social media for potential targets. The suit called such policies 'unconstitutional' and argues that the repression has 'created a climate of repression and fear on university campuses.'
Since President Donald Trump's return to the White House in January, the administration has weaponized the United States' robust deportation apparatus to crack down on pro-Palestinian students and professors. The Trump administration has also punished universities for failing to address alleged antisemitism on campuses in its push to silence pro-Palestinian speech. The administration has canceled the visas of thousands of students and has cut federal funding from universities. Aside from Khalil, immigration agents have also abducted other students and scholars including Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk, and fellow Columbia student protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi. While Suri, Öztürk, and Mahdawi have since been released, Khalil remains detained in a private immigration jail in Louisiana.
The March complaint and supporting legal filings highlight more than a dozen students and professors, most of whom are green-card holders, who said Khalil's disappearance and the Trump administration's policy of targeting pro-Palestinian protesters has prevented them from attending actions, posting on social media, and continuing their research and writing on Israel and Palestine. One scholar said they had their scholarship on the topic removed from online and had turned down speaking opportunities 'due to fears that they will be targeted for deportation based on that writing and advocacy.'
The motion filed on Wednesday by free-speech attorneys requests a protective order from the court, preventing possible government retaliation. In addition to the threats of deportation, many told attorneys they worried testifying would impact their future applications to become naturalized citizens.
'Noncitizen witnesses contacted by counsel have expressed concern that, if they testify at trial or are otherwise identified in connection with this case, Defendants will retaliate against them by arresting, detaining, or deporting them, denying them reentry into the United States, revoking their visas, adjusting their legal permanent resident status, or denying their pending or future naturalization applications,' the motion read.
Aside from cases involving pro-Palestine protesters, ICE agents have shown in recent months they are primed for such courthouse arrests. Some agents have camped outside of courthouses across the U.S. to immediately detain people after judges dismiss their immigration cases, often denying their right to appeal their cases. Others have been detained and jailed in courthouse holding rooms after routine ICE check-ins and asylum hearings.
The government is expected to file a response to the motion on Monday, after which the judge in the case, William Young, will rule on whether or not to grant the order protecting witnesses. Join The Conversation
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