"Newly unsealed memos by the State Department on the Trump administration's push to deport pro-Palestine student advocates have confirmed that officials knew the cases against the students were shaky and likely to run up against their First Amendment rights. The documents were unsealed by a federal judge on Thursday. The case, brought by academic groups, has been full of bombshell revelations on the role of top officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the campaign dubbed as "unconstitutional" by the judge last week."
"In every case, the memos showed that the administration was seeking to remove students over some form of advocacy for Palestinian rights amid Israel's genocide in Gaza. On Chung and Khalil, the State Department claimed that the two Columbia University activists posed a "potentially serious adverse" foreign policy risk - an argument which legal experts have argued is shaky at best. However, it says that officials could not identify prior cases where people were deported under these grounds, and that "courts may scrutinize the basis for these determinations" as a result."
Federal court-unsealed memos reveal State Department involvement in efforts to deport pro-Palestine student activists. The memos name five targeted students — Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, Yunseo Chung, and Badar Khan Suri — and show officials sought removals based on pro-Palestinian advocacy amid Israel's actions in Gaza. The documents indicate officials believed the cases were legally weak and likely to collide with First Amendment protections. The memos note claims that Chung and Khalil posed a "potentially serious adverse" foreign policy risk, while acknowledging an absence of prior deportation cases on those grounds and warning that "courts may scrutinize the basis for these determinations." Top officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio are identified in the campaign.
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