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us department of state
'Confirming Everything We Knew Already': Docs Show Trump Admin Targeted Gaza Activists for Their Opinions
Unsealed internal documents affirmed that the administration arrested and sought to deport pro-Palestine activists "solely on protected expression," as one rights group put it.
Jan 23, 2026
A federal judge on Thursday unsealed documents showing that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally approved the deportation of university students after receiving memos highlighting their involvement in constitutionally protected campus protests against Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Massachusetts-based Senior Judge William G. Young—an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan—unsealed 105 pages of documents he initially kept under wraps because they contained details regarding federal investigations. Young granted a request by media outlets including the New York Times to unseal the files as a matter of public interest.
Last year, Young ruled that the Trump administration broke the law by targeting pro-Palestine student activists in a bid to “unconstitutionally... chill freedom of speech.”
The unsealed documents include Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memos recommending that five student activists who were legally in the United States—Yunseo Chung, Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, Badar Khan Suri, and Rümeysa Öztürk—be deported, despite there being no evidence of wrongdoing.
"There are few things more un-American than masked agents throwing dissenters in the back of a van because the government doesn’t like what they have to say," Conor Fitzpatrick, supervising senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)—which sued the administration over the unconstitutionality of its efforts—said Friday in a statement.
"But these documents prove that it was the students’ opinions alone, and not any criminal activity, that led to handcuffs and deportation proceedings," Fitzpatrick added. "The First Amendment means the government cannot punish speakers for their opinions, but that is exactly what the government is doing."
As the Times reported Friday:
The documents indicate that in nearly all instances, the arrests of the students were recommended based on their involvement in campus protests and public writings, activities that the Trump administration routinely equated to antisemitic hate speech and support for terrorist organizations. They also show that officials privately anticipated the possibility that the deportations might not hold up in court because much of the conduct highlighted could be seen as protected speech.
“Given the potential that a court may consider his actions inextricably tied to speech protected under the First Amendment, it is likely that courts will scrutinize the basis for this determination,” stated one memo on Madhawi, a Columbia University student and permanent US resident.
In another document, Trump administration officials admitted there were no grounds for deporting the students, but noted the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which empowers the secretary of state to expel noncitizens whose presence in the United States is deemed detrimental to US foreign policy interests.
Rubio cited the law to target pro-Palestine students for deportation, a stance that was rebuked in a June 2025 ruling from US District Judge Michael Farbiarz, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, who found that Khalil's "career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled" by the Trump administration's actions.
In May 2025, US District Judge William Sessions III—who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton—ordered the release of Öztürk. The Turkish PhD student at Tufts University was illegally snatched off a Massachusetts street in March 2025 and taken to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lockup in Louisiana after she published an opinion piece in a student newspaper advocating divestment from apartheid Israel.
"There has been no evidence that has been introduced by the government other than the op-ed,” Sessions wrote in his ruling.
One of the newly unsealed State Department documents states that DHS and ICE have "not provided any evidence showing that Öztürk has engaged in any antisemitic activity or made any public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization or antisemitism generally."
Fitzpatrick stressed that "this can't happen in a free society."
"It can’t happen in a free America," he added. "We’ll continue to fight this egregious violation of the Constitution every step of the way."
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'A Travesty': Trump Suspends Processing of Immigrant Visas From 75 Nations
"Trump is once again using lies, racism, and xenophobia to block entire groups of people from coming and contributing to this country," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
Jan 14, 2026
The US State Department announced one of the Trump administration's most far-reaching efforts to restrict immigration to the country on Wednesday, saying on social media that it will pause processing of all immigrant visas from 75 countries and claiming people from those nations often receive public benefits after arriving in the US.
"The freeze will remain active until the US can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people," reads the statement.
The countries represent more than one-third of the 193 countries on the planet and include Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Laos, Somalia, and Sudan.
The announcement comes as the administration is seeking to expand the definition of what constitutes a "public charge"—people who are likely to utilize public benefits.
President Donald Trump and his top advisers have long been fixated on the claim that immigrants and refugees overuse social services, and the White House has particularly been focused on the use of public programs by Somali immigrants following a fraud scandal in Minnesota.
Last year, the libertarian Cato Institute published a study showing that despite Trump's claims, native-born Americans consume more public benefits than immigrants on average per capita.
Immigrants used 21% fewer welfare and public benefits than Americans born in the US, the study found.
"Trump is once again using lies, racism, and xenophobia to block entire groups of people from coming and contributing to this country," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).
Late last year, the administration proposed a rule that would direct immigration officers to consider whether an immigrant would use programs such as Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and free and reduced-cost school lunches when deciding whether to grant them entry to the US.
A number of observers noted Wednesday that the State Department announced the visa processing freeze months before the US is set to host the World Cup—and 15 of the 42 teams that have already qualified for the soccer tournament are reportedly from countries impacted by the new policy.
A State Department official told Politico that the pause is not expected to directly affect tourist visa processing, but the outlet reported that "individuals could still face difficulties if their countries are subject to other Trump travel bans and restrictions."
The US embassies in Haiti and Iran both posted warnings about visa restrictions on their websites.
"The US should lose hosting rights," said Etan Nechin of Haaretz. "This is a travesty."
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Trump 'Sends a Dangerous Message' With 'America First' Diplomat Purge, Says Union
The American Foreign Service Association said the move "tells our public servants that loyalty to country is no longer enough—that experience and oath to the Constitution take a back seat to political loyalty."
Dec 23, 2025
Following Politico's Friday reporting that "the Trump administration is recalling a number of career ambassadors appointed by former President Joe Biden," several news outlets confirmed Monday that the purge is affecting at least 29 diplomats.
"This is a standard process in any administration," an unnamed senior official at the US Department of State claimed to multiple journalists. "An ambassador is a personal representative of the president, and it is the president's right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the 'America First' agenda."
However, Nikki Gamer, a spokesperson for the diplomats' union, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), told the New York Times that "those affected report being notified abruptly, typically by phone, with no explanation provided."
"That method is highly irregular," she said. "The lack of transparency and process breaks sharply with long-standing norms."
Gamer told Reuters that "abrupt, unexplained recalls reflect the same pattern of institutional sabotage and politicization our survey data shows is already harming morale, effectiveness, and US credibility abroad."
In a statement, the AFSA added: "To remove these senior diplomats without cause or justification sends a dangerous message. It tells our public servants that loyalty to country is no longer enough—that experience and oath to the Constitution take a back seat to political loyalty."
According to the Associated Press:
Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda.
Second is Asia, with ambassadorial changes coming to six countries: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Vietnam affected.
Four countries in Europe (Armenia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovakia) are affected; as are two each in the Middle East (Algeria and Egypt); South and Central Asia (Nepal and Sri Lanka); and the Western Hemisphere (Guatemala and Suriname).
Noting that there are about 80 vacant ambassadorships, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) accused President Donald Trump of "giving away US leadership to China and Russia by removing qualified career ambassadors who serve faithfully no matter who's in power."
Eric Rubin, a retired career diplomat and former AFSA president, similarly highlighted that over half of US embassies won't have a confirmed ambassador, which he called "a serious insult to the countries affected, and a huge gift to China."
"This has never happened in the 101-year history of the US Foreign Service," Rubin told CNN. "Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president. But every president has kept most career professional ambassadors in place until their successors are confirmed by the Senate."
"The ambassadors who have been dismissed will mostly have to retire, which means the State Department will lose a large number of our most senior, experienced, and accomplished professionals," he explained. "This is bad for our diplomacy, bad for our national security, and bad for our influence in the world."
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