On The Front Lines

Penalizing Dissent: Civil Rights Groups Challenge Trump Administration’s Attempts to Muzzle Free Speech and Target Peaceful Protesters

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — A group of civil liberties organizations is continuing to push back against the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional efforts to target student activists for engaging in peaceful protests over the rising death toll in Gaza.

The legal coalition—which includes The Rutherford Institute, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), the National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN America, Cato Institute, and the First Amendment Lawyers Association— has come to the defense of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, and Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University PhD student and Fulbright scholar. Both were arrested by ICE for engaging in nonviolent political expression that Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims is contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests.

In amicus briefs filed with the Second and Third Circuit Courts of Appeals in Öztürk v. Trump and Khalil v. Trump, the coalition argues that detaining individuals for protected speech constitutes unconstitutional retaliation and viewpoint discrimination, warning that allowing arrests and deportations based on a government official’s disapproval of someone’s views endangers free expression for everyone.

“You don’t defend democracy by silencing dissent,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “The government’s attempts to punish students for speaking out against war are not just unconstitutional—they’re un-American. The First Amendment protects the right to speak truth to power.”

Although neither was accused of vandalism or violence, both Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk were arrested by ICE and transported far from their homes to a detention center in Louisiana. Their green card and visa were revoked under a rarely-used statute that gives the Secretary of State broad authority to deport non-citizens for speech deemed “contrary” to U.S. foreign policy.

In Öztürk’s case, a year before ICE agents detained her, she had co-written an op-ed in a university publication criticizing the Tufts administration for dismissing student government resolutions which aimed to hold Israel accountable for alleged violations of international law in Gaza. After a federal district court ordered her release, the government appealed.

In Khalil’s case, the district court similarly ordered his release and found that the government’s justification likely violated due process rights when coupled with First Amendment protections. The judge warned that if such laws can be used against Khalil, “then other, similar statutes can also one day be made to apply. Not just in the removal context, as to foreign nationals. But also in the criminal context, as to everyone.” Separately, an Immigration Judge has ruled that Khalil could be deported on different grounds for allegedly failing to disclose affiliations with humanitarian organizations—a charge Khalil disputes and also characterizes as pretextual retaliation for his protected speech. The federal court noted that legal permanent residents are virtually never detained for such technicalities. Khalil, who is married to a U.S. citizen and father to a newborn, plans to amend his habeas petition to challenge this alternative charge.

Ronald G. London, Conor T. Fitzpatrick, Colin McDonell, and others at FIRE advanced the arguments in the Khalil and Öztürk amicus briefs.

The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, defends individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.

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Case History

Khalil

March 20, 2025 • Deporting Non-Citizen Protesters Sets a Dangerous Precedent of Punishment and Retaliation for All Americans 

June 17, 2025 • Trump Administration Accused of Using Deportation Powers to Punish Protesters, Chill Political Speech 

June 25, 2025 • In a Legal Defeat for Government Efforts to Weaponize Immigration, Judge Orders Release of U.S. Protester Detained for Political Speech

Ozturk

May 01, 2025 • Civil Liberties Advocates Sound Alarm Over Arrest of PhD Student for Political Views 

May 12, 2025 • Facing Court Losses Over Its Detention of Student Activists, Trump Administration Considers Suspending Habeas Corpus