OPINION:
Noel Wise, a Biden-appointed U.S. District Court judge in Northern California, issued an opinion in late August greatly limiting President Trump’s ability to kick out foreign students who protest America and its allies.
It has to do with — what else? — the Palestinians and Israelis and, by extension, Hamas. That is the Palestinian terrorist group committed to killing Jews forever and training the children of its members to do the same.
Hamas is forbidden in America, which designates it as what it is and bars anyone from giving it material support.
A lame-duck, Democratic-run Senate confirmed Judge Wise in December 2024. No Republican voted yes. I will come back to why.
The case decided Aug. 28 — Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation et al. v. Rubio et al. — involved the Stanford University student newspaper, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Department of Homeland Security.
If the judge’s opinion on it stands as law of the land, foreign countries will be able to dispatch provocateurs under the cover of their being “students,” and they will be permitted to go hog-wild on campuses, bashing America and supporting our enemies.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Mr. Rubio is a patriot diplomat. He rightly designates radical Islam and communism as direct threats to America. He does not believe student visas should be invitations to come to America to denigrate it. Foreign students are guests and should enjoy the fruits of America by learning.
The Homeland Security Department — which includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the brave officers who hunt down criminals brought into the country by President Biden through his open border — feels the same way.
The Stanford lawsuit does not name the two foreign-student plaintiffs, instead listing them as John and Jane Doe. The complaint does name, as celebrated victims, others whom Mr. Rubio is trying to deport.
One is Mahmoud Khalil. Syrian-born and of Palestinian descent, Mr. Khalil holds Algerian citizenship and came here on a student visa in 2022.
Mr. Rubio is engaged in a legal struggle to deport Mr. Khalil, who capitalized on the Palestine-Israel conflict and protests at Columbia University to become a liberal media sensation.
To liberals, Mr. Khalil fulfills every dream for a foreign student. These include confronting Jews around the Columbia University campus, being part of a student group that calls for the end of Western civilization and making excuses for why Hamas had to invade Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,200 men, women and children and paraded naked bodies through the streets of the Gaza Strip to cheering crowds. It raped men and women alike and killed 79 pet dogs.
In August 2025, Mr. Khalil did a New York Times podcast. He made the case for Oct. 7.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t avoid such a moment,” he said, according to the New York Post. “They had to do that, according to their calculations — which, it’s obvious, were not right. … To me, it felt frightening that we had to reach this moment in the Palestinian struggle.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Republican, wrote a book, “Poisoned Ivies,” about the fall from grace of Ivy League schools such as Columbia, which now churn out anti-American, left-wing graduates.
She devotes several pages to Mr. Khalil. “As a leader of Columbia’s pro-Hamas encampments, he participated directly in the violation of American Jewish students’ civil rights,” she writes.
On March 7, 2024, at a rally, he spoke about his role. “They — we — have tried armed resistance, which is, again, legitimate under international law, but Israel calls it terrorism,” he said.
Ms. Stefanik writes: “In other words, Khalil was an open supporter of terrorism — in spite of the best efforts of the mainstream media to cast him as a peacemaker and bridge-builder.
“Despite being several times in violation of university policy, there is no record that Mahmoud Khalil was ever disciplined by Columbia for any of this obviously illegal conduct.”
Judge Wise, in her 90-page opinion, said the Trump administration violated the free speech rights of two foreign Stanford students.
A Homeland Security Department filing on April 9 quoted the federal law on visas: “After the issuance of a visa or other documentation to any alien, the consular officer or the Secretary of State may at any time, in his discretion, revoke such visa or other documentation.”
In December 2024, Senate Republicans unanimously opposed Judge Wise’s nomination in a losing 50-47 floor vote. They view the judge as openly partisan. As evidence, they cited articles she wrote in liberal publications while a sitting state judge, including ones in the anti-Trump magazine The Atlantic.
At her July confirmation hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham told her, “You ought to get into politics and not be promoted as a judge.”
As for Mr. Khalil, his case remains in federal court. All his rabble rousing at Columbia in the spring of 2024 did not hurt his desire to stay in America forever. In November 2024, the Biden administration granted him permanent resident status.
In 2025, an immigration judge ruled that Mr. Khalil willfully misrepresented material facts on his green card application by omitting his ties to Columbia University Apartheid Divest and a prior internship with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
“This Court finds that respondent willfully misrepresented material fact(s) for the sole purpose of circumventing the immigration process and reducing the likelihood his application would be denied,” the judge said as he ordered Mr. Khalil deported.
• Rowan Scarborough is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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