DENVER (AP) 鈥� When President gave his to Congress last week, he boasted that in his first few weeks back in the White House he had 鈥渂rought back to America.鈥�
But First Amendment advocates say they've never seen freedom of speech under attack the way it has been in Trump's second term.
Trump's Republican administration has threatened Democratic members of Congress with investigation for criticizing conservatives, pulled federal grants that include language it opposes, sanctioned law firms that represent Trump's political opponents and of student protests that Trump criticized as 鈥渁nti-Semitic, anti-American.鈥�
鈥淵our right to say something depends on what the administration thinks of it, which is no free speech at all,鈥� said Will Creeley, legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonpartisan First Amendment group.
Trump on Monday took credit for the arrest by immigration agents of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and legal permanent resident who helped lead pro-Palestinian protests there. Khalil's lawyers say the government is and to 鈥渄iscriminate against particular viewpoints.鈥�
said Wednesday that the administration will revoke the visas or green cards of supporters of Hamas, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization and denied that the policy threatened the First Amendment.
鈥淭his is not about free speech," Rubio told reporters in Shannon, Ireland. "This is about people that don鈥檛 have a right to be in the United States to begin with. No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card.鈥�
A federal judge earlier this week not to remove Khalil from the country while his case is sorted out.
鈥淭his is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,鈥� Trump wrote.
Targeting universities over language and demonstrations
Even some Trump allies were uncomfortable with that approach: 鈥淭here's almost no one I don't want to deport,鈥� wrote conservative commentator Ann Coulter on X, 鈥渂ut, unless they've committed a crime, isn't this a violation of the first amendment?鈥�
On the other end of the political spectrum, activists who organized to protest were aghast at the administration's move.
鈥淲e learn about our First Amendment rights since we鈥檙e children,鈥� said Germ谩n Rafael Gonz谩lez, a member of Stanford University's Students for Justice in Palestine. 鈥淏ut that is very much a myth. It鈥檚 not the reality we live in right now. And it鈥檚 scary.鈥�
Prior to the arrest of Khalil over the weekend, the administration on anti-Israel activism among students and faculty, and Trump has threatened to go after any college that supports protests he deems 鈥渋llegal.鈥�
He also issued forbidding federal funding of what his administration labels , which led to as the administration reviews them for forbidden words such as 鈥済ender.鈥�
Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, which sued the Trump administration over its DEI ban and won an injunction against it from a federal judge, said the administration is pulling funding from projects that have prohibited words, yanking grants from research into such areas as crop diversity or differences in infant mortality in urban and rural areas.
鈥淣obody really wants Big Brother telling you what you can research,鈥� Wolfson said. 鈥淭hese are questions our country needs to know the answers to.鈥�
鈥楾he most serious of threats鈥� to free speech
Republicans for several years have been the party complaining about infringements on the First Amendment, from complaints about 鈥渨oke鈥� colleges canceling conservative speakers to they accuse of censoring conservative viewpoints, including cutting Trump off after by his supporters on . GOP-controlled Florida and Texas even drew up laws to limit how social media firms regulate content, though the U.S. Supreme Court last year because of possible First Amendment violations.
Last year, Trump positioned himself as a champion of the First Amendment during his campaign, and he just hours after being sworn into office prohibiting anyone in the federal government from interfering with Americans' free speech rights. But he also made pledges that signaled he might oppose some of the First Amendment's fundamental protections, such as deporting foreign students who protested Israel or outlawing flag-burning, which the Supreme Court has ruled is protected free speech.
Creeley, of the individual rights foundation, said he tried to be optimistic before Trump took office that the new president would fix some First Amendment issues. Instead, he said, it's gotten worse.
鈥淚 cannot recall anything like this," Creeley said. "I've been defending First Amendment rights since 2006, and this is the most serious of threats I can recall.鈥�
Actions against media and lawyers to chill dissent
The Trump administration also has gone after the news media.
The president has sued several outlets for coverage he dislikes, and his appointees at the Federal Communications Commission have those media companies. Meanwhile, Trump's FCC is opening investigations of other media companies with which Trump has feuded, and the administration has barred The Associated Press because it won't use Trump's preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico. The AP is suing to restore its access on First Amendment grounds.
The administration also has targeted law firms for their affiliations with Democrats or the previous administration. It stripped security clearances for lawyers at a private firm who provided legal services for , who investigated Trump during President Joe Biden's term, and Perkins Coie, a longtime Democratic firm that Trump blames for the investigation into his campaign's relationship with Russia during his first term. On Tuesday, Perkins Coie sued the administration to reverse the action, saying it violated the First Amendment and other constitutional guarantees.
Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia, said the attacks on the law firms have scared some high-profile attorneys out of taking cases that challenge the administration, which, he contended, is the point.
鈥淭here's a long tradition of lawyers taking on controversial clients, sometimes against our government,鈥� Jaffer said. 鈥淭he Trump administration has made it clear it will retaliate against lawyers.鈥�
Jaffer said attacks on free speech and association are intended to chill dissent by convincing people in the opposition that they could become targets.
鈥淎ll of us are able to participate in government by engaging in protest,鈥� Jaffer said. 鈥淲hen the government shuts down that kind of speech, it's shutting down democracy.鈥�
鈥業 will not be silenced鈥�
The Trump administration has even targeted members of Congress.
Trump appointed Ed Martin, a defense attorney who represented some of those charged in , as acting U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia. Martin wrote to Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader and one of the nation's top Democrats, telling him that a comment he made in 2020 warning conservative Supreme Court judges they would for overturning the right to abortion could be seen as a threat. Schumer has since .
Martin also wrote to Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, warning him that comments he made about Trump adviser Elon Musk could be seen as a threat. Garcia had said Democrats should 鈥渂ring actual weapons to this bar fight.鈥�
鈥淢embers of Congress must have the right to forcefully oppose the Trump Administration," Garcia replied on Musk鈥檚 X platform. "I will not be silenced.鈥�
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Fernando reported from Chicago. Matt Lee in Shannon, Ireland contributed to this report.
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Nicholas Riccardi And Christine Fernando, The Associated Press
