A Cornell professor and two graduate students have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that recent executive orders targeting international students engaged in pro-Palestinian activism violate the First Amendment. The lawsuit, filed Saturday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District, seeks a nationwide injunction to halt enforcement of the orders.
The plaintiffs—Cornell Professor Mukoma Wa Ngũgĩ and graduate students Sriram Parasurama and Momodou Taal—argue that the administration’s measures have created a climate of fear, leading Taal, a British-Gambian national, to cancel speaking engagements and self-censor political discussions. The executive orders, framed as national security protections, have been used to justify the deportation of international students involved in activism critical of U.S. foreign policy.
“The U.S. government claims to be zealous about free speech—except when it comes to Palestine,” Taal said. “This is another generational moment, another hour of reckoning. Why is there a Palestine exception?”
The orders have led to high-profile arrests, including the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian green cardholder and former Columbia University student, who was taken into custody last Saturday by Homeland Security agents and transferred to a facility in Louisiana. Other students have faced visa revocations and deportations.
Professor Wa Ngũgĩ, who has drawn parallels between the crackdown and past authoritarian regimes, described the measures as a direct attack on universities and academic freedom. “I grew up under dictatorship in Kenya. When I moved back to the U.S., I could not foresee this attempt to chill free speech,” he said. “As a teacher, writer, and scholar, this is unacceptable.”
Legal representatives for the plaintiffs, including the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, argue that the First Amendment protects all people in the U.S., not just citizens, and that the government’s actions amount to an unconstitutional suppression of political expression.
“This lawsuit aims to vindicate the rights of all non-citizens and citizens in the U.S., but the courthouse is only one arena in this fight,” lead counsel Eric Lee said. “We appeal to the population: stand up and exercise your First Amendment rights by actively and vigorously opposing the danger of dictatorship.”
The lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of the executive orders while the court considers their constitutionality, warning that continued repression of political speech sets a dangerous precedent for civil liberties in the U.S.
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