Gaza First Amendment Alert

May 16, 2025: Trump-Rubio Deportation Drive Suffers Setbacks, Columbia and NYU Continue Attacks on their Own Students Free Speech Rights

Trump-Rubio Deportation Drive Suffers Further Setbacks

The Trump administration’s targeting of permanent residents and visa holders for retaliatory immigration process has hit further setbacks. Two more federal judges granted bail to two visa holders challenging their detention pursuant to a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that their presence in this country posed adverse consequences for U.S. foreign policy. On May 9 U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III granted bail to Rümeysa Öztürk, finding that the sole reason for her detention was that the Tufts University student and Turkish national had co-authored an op-ed on divestment from Israel.

On May 14, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles granted bail to Badar Khan Suri. Suri is an Indian national and postdoctoral researcher at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Throughout the proceeding, the government refused to offer any reasoning for his detention. His lawyers have argued that he was targeted for his social media posts in support of the Palestinian people and international law and criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza and U.S. support for it. Judge Giles found Suri would likely succeed in his claims that his detention was retaliatory and that his bail was necessary to both right the injury he is suffering and to “disrupt the chilling effect on free speech.”

The granting of bail to Öztürk and Suri follows a decision to grant bail to Mohsen Mahdaw, when a federal judge cited an atmosphere in the US reminiscent of the Palmer Raids, as reported previously in the Gaza First Amendment Alert. These three decisions, all within two weeks of each other, are major setbacks for the Trump-Rubio deportation campaign. Granting bail to someone in immigration detention pending a habeas petition is an extraordinarily high bar. It requires a substantial legal challenge and an unusual or extraordinary circumstance necessitating bail to make the relief effective. This is the same standard for granting bail to someone challenging a criminal conviction. That three federal judges have found this bar has been met in three separate cases shows Trump’s effort is facing resistance.

For a longer write-up of Suri’s bail hearing, see Gaza First Amendment Alert editor Chip Gibbon’s latest article, “Trump’s War on Palestine and Free Speech Hits a New Setback” in Jacobin.

Charity Killer Bill Advances

The so-called Charity Killer bill, which gives the Secretary of Treasury the power to revoke 501c3 status of “terrorist supporting” NGOs, has been included in the tax bill being considered by the Congress. The provision survived mark up in the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this week. The future of the Republican tax-bill is uncertain.

While the measure can be broadly used to target politically disfavored NGOs, its impetus was to strip the nonprofit status of organizations supporting Palestinian rights. Material support for a foreign terrorist organization is a felony and charities can already have their tax status revoked for illegal activity, including support for terrorism.

Rightwing Backlash Sets Back Anti-Boycott Bill

The House of Representatives was supposed to vote on the IGO Anti-Boycott Act on Monday May 5, 2025. The bill creates steep criminal penalties of a $1 million fine or 20 years in prison for anyone who responds to an international governmental organization’s request to boycott a country friendly to the U.S.. Although it does not mention specific countries, the bill is widely perceived to be targeting a United Nations list of corporations doing business with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

The bipartisan bill was introduced by Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and has been criticized across party lines. First Amendment, progressive, and pro-Palestinian groups have roundly condemned the bill, but it was also criticized by a number of key figures associated with Donald Trump’s “MAGA” movement. This included Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-NC), who announced on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter she would be voting no. Greene, who has previously attacked the Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, stated it was her job to defend Americans’ right to boycott. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) also announced he was a no. Multiple MAGA influencers, like Steven Bannon and Charlie Kirk, also condemned the bill, marking a small but growing rift on the right over attempts to suppress First Amendment rights to defend Israel.

The vote was ultimately cancelled.

New York University Withholds Diploma Over Commencement Address

New York University has withheld a diploma from student Logan Rozos. The undergraduate stated during his commencement speech,“I've been freaking out a lot about this speech, honestly, and as I search my heart today in addressing you, all my moral and political commitments guide me to say that the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine."

University officials have condemned the remarks and claimed Rozos lied about the contents of his speech,violating university rules. Pending disciplinary action, they have withheld his diploma.

Columbia Takes Action Against Student Library Protesters, Including Journalists

After a pro-Palestine protest at the Butler Library, Columbia University has suspended 65 students and barred 33 individuals from campus. Initially, Columbia and Barnard also suspended four student journalists, stating information from public safety showed they were in fact participants in the protest. Following outcry, the suspensions of the journalists were later lifted.

Israel Bombs Hospital Burn Unit, killing Well Known Palestinian journalist in Gaza,

On Tuesday May 15, Israel bombed the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, killing Palestinian journalist Hassan Islayeh. Islayeh was receiving treatment in the hospital’s burn unit, having survived a previous Israeli attack on his tent that killed two other journalists. Islayeh has faced a campaign of demonization designed to facilitate his assassination. Israel’s previous attack on Islayeh was clearly targeted. It is unclear if he was the intended target of Israel’s bombing of the Nasser Hospital.

During Israel’s intensified bombardment of Gaza on May 15, Israel killed two more Palestinian journalists, Hassan Sammour and Ahmed al-Helou.

Israel has killed more than 215 journalists in Gaza. As previously reported in the Gaza First Amendment Alert, the Israeli military has killed more journalists in Gaza since October 7, 2023, than in the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the war in Afghanistan put together. Last year, Defending Rights & Dissent led a group of press freedom groups and journalists in calling on the State Department to cease arming Israel in light of its killing of Palestinian journalists.