Judge Rules Trump Deportation Policy Violated Constitution

A federal judge in California ruled on August 29, 2026, that the Trump administration violated the U.S. Constitution by targeting noncitizens for deportation over political speech critical of Israel's war in Gaza and other views. The decision delivered a significant victory to The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper at Stanford University, which had argued that the government's immigration enforcement created a climate of fear among international students and journalists. U.S. District Judge Noël Wise, in a 90-page ruling issued in San Jose, found that the administration's actions violated both the First Amendment's free speech protections and the Fifth Amendment's due process guarantees.