A United States judge has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump unlawfully targeted pro-Palestine student activists with deportation to silence criticism in Israel, violating their right to free speech.

Federal District Judge William Young, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, said on Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem misused their powers in the deportation campaign.

“They did so in order to strike fear into similarly situated non-citizen pro-Palestinian individuals, pro-actively (and effectively) curbing lawful pro-Palestinian speech and intentionally denying such individuals (including the plaintiffs here) the freedom of speech that is their right,” Young wrote.

“Moreover, the effect of these targeted deportation proceedings continues unconstitutionally to chill freedom of speech to this day.”

The ruling represents a major rebuke to the Trump administration’s efforts to penalise non-citizens who participated in campus activism against the war on Gaza last year.

Rubio has said that he revoked the visas of hundreds of students – including legal permanent residents – over their Palestine activism.

More to come…