Stanford Daily Sues Trump Administration Over Alleged Free-Speech Violations

Stanford University’s independent student newspaper, the Stanford Daily, and two unnamed foreign students filed a federal lawsuit in California accusing the Trump administration of violating the First Amendment by threatening to deport non-citizen reporters whose coverage it deemed “anti-American or anti-Israel.” The complaint names Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem as defendants. According to the filing, the administration’s warnings have led foreign student journalists to avoid writing about U.S. foreign policy, Israel or Palestine for fear of arrest, detention or removal. The plaintiffs ask the court to declare that non-citizens cannot be deported for engaging in protected speech and to bar officials from enforcing the alleged policy. The suit comes amid broader tensions between the administration and higher-education institutions. Washington has already battled Harvard University over international student enrollment and broadened its scrutiny from Ivy League schools to public systems such as the University of California. The State and Homeland Security departments have not commented on the Stanford case.