Trump tries to arrest academic suing administration over antisemitism executive order [View all]

Source: The Independent

Friday 21 March 2025 20:19 EDT


Immigration agents are allegedly trying to arrest and deport a Cornell PhD student who filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s executive orders cracking down on pro-Palestinian protesters. Momodou Taal, a citizen of the UK and The Gambia, is one of three academics who sued the Trump administration over the weekend, alleging a pair of executive orders unconstitutionally threaten immigrants who protest the administration and its allies with deportation.

Early Friday morning, with hearings scheduled in the constitutional case next week, Taal got an email from a Justice Department lawyer citing the lawsuit, directing him to “surrender” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to court documents.

Taal’s attorneys told The Independent they have gotten no document describing why Taal could be facing removal, and that if his removal is based on the lawsuit itself, it’s unprecedented in American history for a foreign student to be deported for challenging the constitutionality of presidential actions. They said they heard from the university that as of this morning, Taal’s visa had not been revoked.

“That is something which should cause deep concern and outrage among everybody who wants to defend the most democratic principles in the Bill of Rights and to anyone who wants to prevent Donald Trump from accomplishing his goal of establishing a dictatorship in this country,” said attorney Eric Lee. “This type of thing should not happen in a democracy,” he added.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-antisemitism-order-momodou-taal-b2719588.html