CPJ supports student paper’s lawsuit against Trump admin’s visa, deportation policies

The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined an amicus brief, authored by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), in support of the Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s visa and deportation policies in connection with First Amendment rights for non-citizens.

The Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation, which publishes Stanford University’s Stanford Daily student newspaper, filed the suit against Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in August, challenging provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act related to revoking visas and declaring non-citizens deportable. Examples of how such provisions have impacted students include the case of Tufts University PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk, whose student visa was revoked in response to an op-ed she co-bylined, leading to a six-week detention. CPJ also joined an amicus brief in Öztürk’s appeal.

The amicus brief in Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation’s case argues that non-citizen journalists report on important public matters and subjecting them to visa revocation, detention, and removal from the United States, based on their reporting, would significantly and unlawfully chill newsgathering by foreign journalists. Particularly, foreign journalists may be deterred from reporting on controversial topics or those that might draw the attention of immigration officials, which risks creating viewpoint or content-based restriction on speech.

Read a copy of the amicus brief here.