OAKLAND, CA – California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with over 20 other attorneys general, filed an amicus brief this week to challenge the Trump Administration’s order to revoke visas based on political beliefs, claiming the orders threaten the fundamental rights to free speech and association, especially for international students and faculty.
The legal action is requesting the court issue a temporary injunction to stop deportations, and the California Dept. of Justice notes Bonta’s strong commitment to immigrant rights, representing nearly 11 million immigrants in his state. He has fought for legal immigration pathways, protections for TPS holders from Venezuela and Haiti, and secured a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration’s attempt to end birthright citizenship.
Bonta, said CA DOJ, has firmly opposed President Trump’s “assault on the rule of law,” and he and 20 other attorneys general have called on the legal community to unite in defending the rule of law, charging Bonta has stressed the importance of speaking up when democratic norms are violated and the legal system is sabotaged.
This amicus brief, led by Bonta and the AGs of Colorado, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Washington, was filed in concert with attorneys general from Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington, as well as with Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
The California Department of Justice emphasized, in a statement, the Trump Administration has not only stripped hundreds of visa-holding and legal permanent resident students of their legal status for expressing dissenting views but also escalated to arrests, detentions, and efforts to deport them.
It’s an alarming weaponization of immigration policy against academic freedom and political expression, charged the DOJ, adding there are numerous cases of these students receiving little to no explanation for the termination of their visas and were not offered an opportunity to contest decisions.
In California alone, nearly 100 students from institutions like the California State University system, the University of California, and Stanford University have seen their visas revoked, said DOJ.
California AG Bonta said, “The unjustified and unconstitutional revocation of student visas for expressing their opinions sends a stunning message to campuses across the nation: fall in line or face deportation. I urge the court to put a swift stop to this policy before it can do any further damage.”
The California DOJ added the Trump Administration’s “Ideological Deportation Policy” is grounded in Executive Orders 14161 & 14188. These orders instruct federal agencies to screen foreign nationals not for safety threats but for ideological beliefs.
These orders direct agencies to “investigate, detain, and deport non citizen students and faculty who engage in political speech with which the Administration disagrees,” said the CA DOJ, noting the Trump Administration introduced these orders to revoke hundreds of students’ visas, in a dangerous shift towards censorship and punitive immigration force rooted in political bias.
During the 2023–2024 academic year, states supporting this legal challenge hosted more than 640,000 international students, who contributed roughly $27.5 billion to their economies and supported over 235,000 jobs. These students do more than fund institutions—they “enrich academic discourse, strengthen our research capabilities, and enhance our global competitiveness,” said the CA DOJ.
Attorney Bonta argues this policy causes “irreparable harm to the states,” contradicts the public interest, and violates the First Amendment, which, as the Supreme Court has affirmed, “extends to noncitizen residents within the United States.”
