Another Federal Judge Concludes Aliens Generally Can’t Be Deported for Their Political Advocacy
Today’s decision by Judge Geoffrey Crawford (D. Vt.) in Mahdawi v. Trump allows a legal permanent resident to be bailed out of detention, pending his immigration hearings. And the bail analysis requires considering whether Mahdawi raises “substantial claims” that his deportation (on the grounds that “[t]he Secretary of State has determined that your presence and activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest”) would violate the First Amendment. The court concludes that he has indeed raised such claims:
Noncitizen residents like Mr. Mahdawi enjoy First Amendment rights in this country to the same extent as United States citizens. See, e.g., Bridges v. Wixon (1945) (holding that a noncitizen who published communist literature was protected by First Amendment); Kwong Hai Chew v. Colding (1953) (noting that the First Amendment does not distinguish “between citizens and resident [noncitizens]”); United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez (1990) (confirming that resident noncitizens “enjoy certain constitutional rights,” including “First Amendment rights”); Rafeedie v. I.N.S. (D.D.C. 1992) (“Plaintiff is entitled to the same First Amendment protections as United States citizens, including the limitations imposed by the overbreadth and vagueness doctrines.”); OPAWL – Building AAPI Feminist Leadership v. Yost, (S.D. Ohio 2024) (“[T]he Supreme Court has never held that the First Amendment fails to protect [noncitizens’] political speech to the same extent it protects citizens’ political speech.”). That includes the right to be free from retaliation for the exercise of his First Amendment rights. See Ragbir v. Homan (2d Cir. 2019) (holding that legal permanent resident could not be deported in retaliation for his protected speech even where he was deportable on other grounds)….
[Mr. Mahdawi’s] speech, which advocated for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Gaza and opposed Israel’s military campaign, is at the heart of an ongoing political debate among the American people. “Because [Mr. Mahdawi’s] speech concerns ‘political change,’ it is also ‘core political speech’ and thus ‘trenches upon an area in which the importance of First Amendment protections is at its zenith.‘”
Mr. Mahdawi’s speech does not ap
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