Trump is using immigration policy to suppress speech, lawsuit claims

"They are among a host of noncitizen academics and independent researchers who are living in "pervasive fear" of immigration enforcement that's having "chilling effects" on independent research and advocacy, the lawsuit alleges. The suit accuses the administration of violating the First Amendment with an official policy to deny visas to or deport noncitizens who work on or study social media platforms, fact-checking or other activities the government deems "censorship" of Americans' speech."

"An adjunct professor at a university in the eastern U.S. who studies online harms to children has left the country because they are not an American citizen and fear being denied a visa or deported. At another university in the Northeast, a content moderation expert who has permanent resident status has shifted their focus to more "politically neutral" topics and stopped traveling internationally."

""The Trump administration is engaged in a brazen and far-reaching campaign of censorship while cynical and falsely claiming that censorship is what it's fighting," the complaint says. It argues that amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination."

Noncitizen academics and researchers in the United States are experiencing significant fear regarding immigration enforcement, leading to widespread self-censorship and abandonment of research activities. An adjunct professor studying online child harms left the country, a content moderation expert shifted to politically neutral topics, and a media politics researcher stopped publishing and promoting work on disinformation. A lawsuit filed against the Trump administration alleges an official policy denies visas to or deports noncitizens engaged in research on social media, fact-checking, and related activities deemed "censorship" by the government. The suit claims this constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and First Amendment violations. The complaint characterizes the administration's actions as a censorship campaign while falsely claiming to fight censorship. The case names Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Attorney General Pam Bondi as defendants.

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