Immigrant students are on the frontlines of challenging Trump’s crackdown on free speech in the United States. On Tuesday, March 25, US District Judge Elizabeth C. Coombe heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by pro-Palestine student activist Momodou Taal and others challenging two executive orders issued by the Trump administration.
Momodou Taal is a leading student organizer and graduate worker at Cornell University, and even under the Biden administration, was facing threats of deportation as a result of his activism in solidarity with Palestine. Taal is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the Gambia, and despite facing repression due to his immigration status, has taken up the task of launching a legal offensive against the virulently anti-immigrant Trump administration.
Students lead fight back against Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown
On March 15, Taal filed a lawsuit alongside Cornell student Sriram Parasurama and Professor Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ, challenging two of Trump’s executive orders: “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” and “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism.” The suit alleges that these orders have “chilled protected expression” and violate both the first and fifth amendments of the US constitution.
“Both Orders violate the constitutional rights of US citizens and non-citizens alike by impermissibly restricting speech based on viewpoint, in violation of the First Amendment,” the lawsuit argues. “They also raise serious due process concerns under the Fifth Amendment by threatening severe penalties—such as deportation or criminal prosecution—based on vague, subjective, and overbroad standards that grant unfettered discretion to government officials.”
“This does not happen in a democracy”
Following the filing of the lawsuit, Taal was targeted by Trump’s DHS with a deportation order. On Friday, March 21, immigration officials ordered that Taal surrender to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Taal’s legal team then filed a motion to halt the deportation order.
“The Trump administration responded to Momodou Taal’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the executive orders by sending agents to stake out his house,” wrote Taal’s attorney, Eric Lee, in a statement. “When we asked the Court to enjoin the administration from detaining Mr. Taal as the case progresses, the administration responded by ordering him to surrender to ICE. This does not happen in a democracy.”
On March 23, the Cornell Graduate Student Union received news that Taal’s student visa had been revoked by ICE. “Even more disturbingly, in its explanation for why Taal’s visa was revoked, ICE utilized direct quotes from Cornell’s completely unjust notice of suspension issued through the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (OSCCS) – a suspension based on charges made with no investigation, resulting in a complete lack of evidence, and hence in a total absence of due process,” CGSU-UE Local 300 wrote in a collective bargaining update.
Connecting free speech rights and labor rights, the union local wrote, “as the Trump administration cracks down on our constitutionally protected free speech, we need the power of a strong union contract to protect each other.”
The United Electrical Workers, of which the Cornell graduate student union is a local, also issued a statement in support of Taal, calling on other unions to sign onto the statement. “If the federal government is allowed to come for Taal, they will be further emboldened to come for anyone else who threatens their agenda, including those who speak up for sane climate policies, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, a fair economy, and workers’ rights,” the statement reads.
Responding to Trump administration accusations that Taal has created a “hostile environment for Jewish students,” the aforementioned Jewish students at Cornell University, as well as Jewish faculty and alumni, issued a statement in support of Taal and challenging Trump’s allegations.
“In revoking Taal’s student visa, surveilling his home, and threatening his right to due process, the administration is once again enacting unconstitutional, anti-immigrant policies on the false pretense of protecting Jewish people, specifically Jewish Cornellians,” the statement reads.
“The Trump administration is no ally to Jewish students. Rather, these attacks on Taal thinly veil a broader effort to silence dissent, undermine university autonomy, consolidate authoritarian power, and uphold white Christian nationalism.” The statement also made reference to a letter signed by over 2,800 Jewish professors, university staff, and students opposing Trump’s targeting of Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil.
Another Columbia student targeted for deportation
Yet another Columbia student has been targeted by the Trump administration in relation to pro-Palestine protest activity, following the detention of Mahmoud Khalil and Leqaa Kordia, and the targeting of student Ranjani Srinivasan which resulted in her fleeing the country.
ICE has now set its sights on Columbia student Yunseo Chung, a legal permanent resident who has lived in the US since she was 7 years old, for participating in pro-Palestine protests on campus. Throughout March, immigration authorities have hunted Chung, signing an administrative arrest warrant on March 8, and showing up at her parent’s home the next day. On March 13, federal agents searched Chung’s dormitory, seeking her documentation, including immigration and travel records.
Chung has responded with a lawsuit against Trump and top officials in his administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “ICE’s shocking actions against Ms. Chung forms part of a larger pattern of attempted US government repression of constitutionally protected protest activity and other forms of speech,” reads the lawsuit against Trump. “The government’s repression has focused specifically on university students who speak out in solidarity with Palestinians and who are critical of the Israeli government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza or the pro-Israeli policies of the US government and other US institutions.”
In a hearing on Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to halt its efforts to detain and deport Chung.
Students stand in the way of Trump
The Trump administration has once again doubled down on its efforts to use immigration enforcement as a bludgeon against student protesters and immigrant communities. On March 24, Trump’s border czar Thomas Homan went on Fox News and told reporters that if the administration cannot simply deport migrants, they are happy to continue to detain them.
“We’ll keep arresting public safety threats all across this nation,” Homan said. “We’ll simply detain them. But we’re gonna take them off the streets.”
Standing in the way of the Trump administration’s mission of chilling free speech and mass deportations are students like Taal. “We’re seeking a national injunction, not just to protect myself, but also to protect anyone in the country who may be in a similarly situated situation,” Taal said in a recent interview with Democracy Now! “I know things are scary. I know things are unfortunate in this moment. But I don’t think the time is to keep quiet. I think the time is to double down, escalate, keep going and keep raising the issue of Palestine.”
