With Trial Approaching, Harvard AAUP Asks Judge To Protect Noncitizen Witnesses in Trump Admin Lawsuit

The American Association of University Professors asked for a protective order on Wednesday to prevent the Trump administration from retaliating against noncitizen witnesses in its lawsuit over the White House’s immigration policies.

The motion claimed that noncitizens have expressed fear 0f the White House arresting, detaining, or deporting them for testifying and cited the administration’s refusal to promise not to retaliate against witnesses.

“They are concerned, in other words, that if they present their testimony to this Court, the government will upend their lives,” the plaintiffs wrote in the order.

The lawsuit, which the Harvard chapter of the AAUP filed in March alongside the national organization, alleged that federal agencies violated its members’ First Amendment rights by preventing them from hearing from noncitizen students and professors who could face deportation for pro-Palestine campus advocacy.

In the Wednesday filing, the plaintiffs wrote that they had sent a draft of the proposed order to the defendants on May 21. But on June 3, the defendants — including Donald Trump, the U.S. government, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and agency heads – informed the plaintiffs that they could not agree to it because they did not want to be barred from taking action against individuals whose identities they did not know.

The Middle East Studies Association and AAUP chapters at New York University and Rutgers University also joined the lawsuit. The suit argues that the government violated the First Amendment — which guarantees U.S. citizens the right to receive information regardless of its source — by implementing an “ideological-deportation policy” that aims to deport students and faculty who voice pro-Palestine views.

The lawsuit also contends that the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which regulates federal agencies, citing the White House’s alleged “abuse of discretion.”

In April, a federal judge shot down the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss the suit, ruling that the AAUP “plausibly alleged the existence of both an ideological-deportation policy targeting protected political speech and a more informal campaign of censorship through threats.”

A trial for the case has been set for July 7, and a final pretrial hearing will be held on June 26.

The protective order motion comes as the status of Harvard’s international students has become increasingly uncertain in recent weeks, even though the Trump administration walked back its earlier mass visa revocations after facing headwinds in court.

The Trump administration attempted to revoke Harvard’s certification to enroll international students at the University on May 23 — before a judge granted Harvard a temporary restraining order less than 24 hours later.

The block came in response to a lawsuit filed by Harvard over the action. A federal judge has extended the temporary restraining order last week until June 20 or a broader injunction on the government’s actions is agreed upon.

And on Thursday, Trump signed a proclamation banning international students and scholars from entering the U.S. on Harvard visas — only to face another temporary block in court the next day.

Unlike both of Harvard’s lawsuits and another AAUP lawsuit over Harvard’s federal funding, the deportation lawsuit is overseen by William G. Young ’62, a Ronald Reagan appointee.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.