Yesterday, the Knight Institute joined Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student and lawful permanent resident who has been targeted for deportation, for a congressional briefing on threats to freedom of speech in the United States, including the Trump administration’s targeting of noncitizens because of speech and association the government dislikes. The briefing was followed by a press conference at the U.S. Capitol, where Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) joined the conversation.

The event focused on a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that the Trump administration has invoked against pro-Palestinian student protesters and has also used to target researchers and advocates whose work focuses on social media and online harms.

Nadine Farid Johnson, the Institute’s policy director, warned that each expanded application of the INA’s foreign policy provision functions as a kind of trial balloon. “It’s meant to inure us to the ever-growing effort that is being made to control speech, to control protest, to control association, and to control dissent,” she said.

Speaking at the briefing, Mahdawi said, “The issue is at the core of the Constitution of this country. And if it’s not addressed properly … I’m imagining that the DNA of this country would be changed."

Institute attorneys Carrie DeCell and Xiangnong (George) Wang took part in the congressional briefing, discussing the Institute’s lawsuits in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio and Coalition for Independent Technology Research v. Rubio. The cases challenge the administration’s use of immigration law to target noncitizens for First Amendment-protected activities. At the press conference, Sen. Van Hollen highlighted the words of Judge William G. Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, who found in AAUP v. Rubio that the administration’s conduct was “not only unconstitutional, but a thing virtually unknown to our constitutional tradition.”

Ryan Morgan, policy fellow at the Institute, moderated the briefing and discussed congressional efforts to reform the INA. Together, the briefing and press conference underscored the danger of allowing immigration powers to become tools for suppressing protected expression. As Morgan noted, these policies often begin by targeting groups that are politically vulnerable, but “they don’t end there.”

The Land of the Free Act would repeal Section 237(a)(4)(C) of the INA. The legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) and Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) in August 2025, and Sen. Welch’s Senate bill is co-led with Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

Watch the full press conference below.