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... A federal judge in Boston lambasted Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday for what he called an "unconstitutional conspiracy" to target pro-Palestine students for their speech.

"These cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution," U.S. District Judge William Young exclaimed, later invoking the Fugitive Slave Act to describe the modern-day conundrum of federal immigration enforcement.

The impassioned statements came as Young mulled a remedy in a case involving the Trump administration's attempts to deport college students and academics for protesting against Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

In a ruling from September, Young chastised the practice, which swept up the likes of former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, as an unlawful one designed purely "to strike fear" into demonstrators.

Months later, Young said Thursday he still found the situation "breathtaking."

"I ask myself why, how could this happen?" Young asked. "How could our government, the highest officials in the government, seek to so infringe the rights of people lawfully here in the United States?

"The record in this case convinces me that these high officials -- and I include the president of the United States -- have a fearful view of freedom. A view that defines the freedom here in the United States by who's excluded." ...