Latest news with #politicalspeech
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge Warns Trump Is Turning Into Henry II With His Dangerous Rants
A federal judge compared Donald Trump to Henry II for his blatant efforts to punish his administration's critics. While overseeing a lawsuit Monday concerning the Trump administration's crackdown on non-citizens' pro-Palestinian speech, U.S. District Judge Willliam Young referred to the 12th-century English king while mulling whether the president's penchant for publicizing his every personal problem ever inspired his underlings to take action. Young cited Henry II's famous line, 'Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?' The offhand remark led errant knights to murder Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who'd sought to increase the power of the Catholic Church. Trump 'doesn't have errant knights, but he's got Stephen Miller,' Young quipped, according to Politico's senior legal correspondent Kyle Cheney. Young pointed out that whenever the president had a problem with someone, especially in government, that person tended to find themselves facing a spate of problems they hadn't had before. For example, after Trump had his explosive feud with Elon Musk, the government began to review its contracts with SpaceX. After beefing for months with Senator Adam Schiff, last week, the president accused him of 'mortgage fraud' and said he should 'pay the price of prison.' Young also questioned Trump's motor-mouthed attitude, while his administration appeared intent on violating the First Amendment. 'The president is a master of speech and certainly brilliantly uses his right to free speech,' said Young. 'Whether he recognizes or not whether other people have any right to free speech is questionable.' Last week, Young heard testimony from four veteran officers from the Department of Homeland Security, who recounted their superiors' unusual requests to arrest green card holders and non-citizen academics who had committed no crime.
CNN
18-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
State Department official testifies how Stephen Miller was involved in discussions over student visas and antisemitism
The State Department had more than a dozen meetings with the White House – including Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's White House deputy chief of staff – and other agencies to discuss the topic of student visas, a top department official said in federal court on Friday. The White House did not comment on the meetings. John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, described to a judge how the State Department used broad definitions of antisemitism when scrutinizing the speech and activities of non-citizen students and professors the department chose to attempt to remove from the US. Armstrong appeared toward the end of a two-week trial in which a group of university professors who say the administration's efforts to deport individuals over their anti-Israel views is intended to limit protected political speech. During his testimony, Armstrong discussed action memos to revoke visas for several students and professors as part of the US's effort to combat antisemitism, whose definition could include comments against the Israeli government, support of an arms embargo in the war in Gaza or calling for the US to stop military aid to Israel. 'This is not a mundane thing,' Armstrong said. 'If we get this stuff wrong, we get 9/11. This is very serious stuff.' According to previous testimony from Homeland Security agents, a system was established whereby the State Department would send DHS referrals for non-citizens they wanted investigated. DHS would then investigate the person and send a report to the State Department if they believed there was enough to support a visa revocation. On Friday, Armstrong testified that in several instances the memos to revoke the visas for professors and students noted that the removal orders could become a legal issue because the orders were tied to their speech. One memo that Armstrong signed himself was for the removal orders for Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk. Following the orders, Öztürk was locked up for several weeks earlier this year after a plainclothes officer approached her on the sidewalk near her house, grabbed her wrists and detained her. She lost her visa, Armstrong testified, because of an op-ed she co-authored, participation in an anti-Israel protest and loose connection to a banned pro-Palestinian student group. The federal judge presiding over the case, William Young, said Thursday that it was his current position that First Amendment protections covere non-citizens. 'I'm asking if a lawfully non-citizen has the same rights as a citizen,' Young said Thursday. 'Probably they do. The answer is in the affirmative. Again, we are talking about pure speech.' Closing arguments in the trial will begin Monday.
CNN
18-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Anti-Israel speech from lawful non-citizens likely protected by First Amendment, federal judge says
Lawfully present non-citizens in the United States likely have the same First Amendment rights as US citizens, a federal judge said Thursday, even in cases of speech some feel has a repugnant political message. 'I'm asking if a lawfully non-citizen has the same rights as a citizen,' Judge William G. Young said Thursday. 'Probably they do. The answer is in the affirmative. Again, we are talking about pure speech.' 'Antisemitism is not illegal,' Young said. 'It may be repulsive, but it is not illegal. It is protected under the First Amendment.' The trial, involving a group of university professors who say the administration's efforts to deport individuals over their anti-Israel views is intended to limit protected political speech, is set for closing arguments Monday. On Thursday, the judge also said that in order to find that someone has supported Hamas, it 'has to be something more' than criticism of Israel or support of Palestine. Over the course of the two-week trial, Homeland Security agents and leadership within the department have testified about how DHS works with the State Department to investigate individuals who may violate an executive order from President Donald Trump on antisemitism. According to testimony from DHS agents, the State Department has referred individuals — sometimes through lists compiled by third-party organizations – that they want Homeland Security Investigators to research. That research, according to testimony, involved pulling information on what individual students and professors have said or written regarding Israel and Palestine. One way analysts would conduct this research is by running Google searches on the people referred by the State Department. Reports are then made for review and sent to the State Department if there's enough information so that the Secretary of State can determine whether a person's presence in the US may have adverse foreign policy consequences, according to testimony. The Trump administration has used this process to revoke the visas of several students and professors in the US who have expressed anti-Israel views and is working to have them deported. Some of those detained include Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, who was detained for six weeks and whose anti-Israel op-ed had been flagged to HSI agents by the State Department.
CNN
18-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
State Department official testifies how Stephen Miller was involved in discussions over student visas and antisemitism
The State Department had more than a dozen meetings with the White House – including Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's White House deputy chief of staff – and other agencies to discuss the topic of student visas, a top department official said in federal court on Friday. The White House did not comment on the meetings. John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, described to a judge how the State Department used broad definitions of antisemitism when scrutinizing the speech and activities of non-citizen students and professors the department chose to attempt to remove from the US. Armstrong appeared toward the end of a two-week trial in which a group of university professors who say the administration's efforts to deport individuals over their anti-Israel views is intended to limit protected political speech. During his testimony, Armstrong discussed action memos to revoke visas for several students and professors as part of the US's effort to combat antisemitism, whose definition could include comments against the Israeli government, support of an arms embargo in the war in Gaza or calling for the US to stop military aid to Israel. 'This is not a mundane thing,' Armstrong said. 'If we get this stuff wrong, we get 9/11. This is very serious stuff.' According to previous testimony from Homeland Security agents, a system was established whereby the State Department would send DHS referrals for non-citizens they wanted investigated. DHS would then investigate the person and send a report to the State Department if they believed there was enough to support a visa revocation. On Friday, Armstrong testified that in several instances the memos to revoke the visas for professors and students noted that the removal orders could become a legal issue because the orders were tied to their speech. One memo that Armstrong signed himself was for the removal orders for Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk. Following the orders, Öztürk was locked up for several weeks earlier this year after a plainclothes officer approached her on the sidewalk near her house, grabbed her wrists and detained her. She lost her visa, Armstrong testified, because of an op-ed she co-authored, participation in an anti-Israel protest and loose connection to a banned pro-Palestinian student group. The federal judge presiding over the case, William Young, said Thursday that it was his current position that First Amendment protections covere non-citizens. 'I'm asking if a lawfully non-citizen has the same rights as a citizen,' Young said Thursday. 'Probably they do. The answer is in the affirmative. Again, we are talking about pure speech.' Closing arguments in the trial will begin Monday.
CNN
18-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
State Department official testifies how Stephen Miller was involved in discussions over student visas and antisemitism
The State Department had more than a dozen meetings with the White House – including Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's White House deputy chief of staff – and other agencies to discuss the topic of student visas, a top department official said in federal court on Friday. The White House did not comment on the meetings. John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, described to a judge how the State Department used broad definitions of antisemitism when scrutinizing the speech and activities of non-citizen students and professors the department chose to attempt to remove from the US. Armstrong appeared toward the end of a two-week trial in which a group of university professors who say the administration's efforts to deport individuals over their anti-Israel views is intended to limit protected political speech. During his testimony, Armstrong discussed action memos to revoke visas for several students and professors as part of the US's effort to combat antisemitism, whose definition could include comments against the Israeli government, support of an arms embargo in the war in Gaza or calling for the US to stop military aid to Israel. 'This is not a mundane thing,' Armstrong said. 'If we get this stuff wrong, we get 9/11. This is very serious stuff.' According to previous testimony from Homeland Security agents, a system was established whereby the State Department would send DHS referrals for non-citizens they wanted investigated. DHS would then investigate the person and send a report to the State Department if they believed there was enough to support a visa revocation. On Friday, Armstrong testified that in several instances the memos to revoke the visas for professors and students noted that the removal orders could become a legal issue because the orders were tied to their speech. One memo that Armstrong signed himself was for the removal orders for Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk. Following the orders, Öztürk was locked up for several weeks earlier this year after a plainclothes officer approached her on the sidewalk near her house, grabbed her wrists and detained her. She lost her visa, Armstrong testified, because of an op-ed she co-authored, participation in an anti-Israel protest and loose connection to a banned pro-Palestinian student group. The federal judge presiding over the case, William Young, said Thursday that it was his current position that First Amendment protections covere non-citizens. 'I'm asking if a lawfully non-citizen has the same rights as a citizen,' Young said Thursday. 'Probably they do. The answer is in the affirmative. Again, we are talking about pure speech.' Closing arguments in the trial will begin Monday.
