Standards, Not Speech
U.S. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D–WA) claims it is “blatantly unconstitutional” for the Trump administration to revoke “student visas for criticizing the Israeli government” because “the 1st Amendment applies to EVERYONE.”
IN FACT, the 1st Amendment doesn’t give foreigners the right to live in the U.S. while voicing support for terrorist organizations like Hamas, just like it doesn’t give people who advocate for pedophilia the right to be public school teachers. This is about meeting minimum standards to obtain privileges, not about government imprisoning or fining people for speech.
As the Supreme Court ruled in the 1952 case of Harisiades v. Shaughnessy:
- the “First Amendment does not prevent the deportation” of “aliens” for being “members” of the “Communist Party.”
- laws that prohibit such aliens from being in the United States do “not abridge the aliens’ freedoms of speech and assembly in contravention of the First Amendment.”
- “policy toward aliens is so exclusively entrusted to the political branches of the Government as to be largely immune from judicial inquiry or interference.”
Likewise, the Supreme Court ruled in the 1950 case of Knauff v. Shaughnessy:
Admission of aliens to the United States is a privilege granted by the sovereign United States Government. Such privilege is granted to an alien only upon such terms as the United States shall prescribe.
