Federal judge questions free speech rights of noncitizens in US

A federal judge in Boston is weighing a constitutional question that came up during

legal challenges related to the Trump administration's decision to revoke foreign student visas, ABC News reports. During a hearing in the case, Judge William Young expressed

uncertainty about whether non-citizens in the U.S. have the same full free speech rights as

citizens. I find that that's assumed by a number of my colleagues in related cases that deal with

free speech in the lower courts, but I'm not clear that non-citizens have, I will call them

the full rights to free speech that a citizen has, Judge Young said, as reported by ABC News

He added, I'm hopeful we don't get to it in this case, but I don't see how that will work if a

non-citizen has the same rights as a citizen to speak about these matters. Judge Young suggested

that a higher court, like the Supreme Court, may need to settle it. Meanwhile, the Trump

administration is using an immigration rule that gives the Secretary of State Marco Rubio the power

to deport non-citizens if their actions are seen as creating serious foreign policy problems for

the U.S. Several groups associated with universities in the Northeast are suing the

Trump administration over the arrests detainments and deportations of non students and faculty who participate in pro protests or engage in other types of political The groups argue that the government actions amount to ideological deportation

and say the Trump administration is targeting people for removal from the U.S

because of their political views. The First Amendment means the government can't arrest, detain or deport people for lawful political expression

It's as simple as that. The practice is one we'd ordinarily associate with the most repressive political regimes, and it should have no place in our democracy

The executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute said the federal government was unsuccessful in getting the case thrown out

Judge Young emphasized during the hearing the core issue in the case is about free speech rights

and he made a strong point that free speech protections apply broadly and protects everyone from top government officials like the president to their critics

The judge said the court is trying to find out whether the government engaged in retribution against someone because of their speech or political expression

The case is expected to go to trial in July. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan

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