Cornell student sues Trump to stop deportation of pro-Palestine student activists
A British graduate student, suspended for his pro-Palestine activism at Cornell University, is suing US President Donald Trump to stop his attempt at deporting international students and scholars who support Palestine and protest against the war on Gaza.
Momodou Taal, 31, has joined forces with a fellow graduate student, a scholar at Cornell University, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee to file a lawsuit challenging Trump's executive orders, which Taal has described as a "threat to millions in the US and worldwide".
"Today, on the advice of counsel, we have sought a national injunction against Trump's executive orders. This is because we cannot allow international students, faculty, immigrants and people with conscience to live in perpetual fear, with the threat of illegal detention hanging over our heads," Taal said in a statement.
The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block the enforcement of two executive orders signed by Trump - "Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats" and "Additional Measures to Combat Anti Semitism."
Last year, Cornell University suspended Taal and threatened to revoke the 31-year-old's visa to study in the UK after student protestors shut down a careers fair where two arms companies, Boeing and L3Harris, were present at the fair.
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Taal came to Cornell University to study for a PhD in Africana Studies - the study of Black people in Africa, the African diaspora and around the globe.
During his suspension, Taal was banned from campus and not allowed to access the university's buildings. This suspension meant that Taal was banned from attending Muslim prayers on campus.
However, after weeks of legal challenges and student protests held in Taal's name, Cornell University agreed to reinstate him as a post-graduate student and reduce some restrictions imposed on him.
Targeted
On 9 March, former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian green card holder and legal US resident, was arrested by agents from the Department of Homeland Security in New York and transferred to a detention facility over a thousand miles away in Louisiana.
Khalil has not been charged with any crime but has been accused by Trump of being a "radical foreign pro-Hamas student".
Following Khalil's arrest, which was filmed by his pregnant wife who is a US citizen, Homeland Security launched a series of raids and arrested a second Palestinian student who participated in the pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University.
Khalil's arrest, according to Taal, has created a "climate of fear" that has led him to "cancel speaking engagements, substantially limit his social media posts and refuse to discuss politics with associates at his university 'for fear that his words will be misinterpreted and reported to government authorities."
Taal's lawyer, Eric Lee, who is leading the legal challenge with Taal, criticised Trump's restrictions as designed to " chill speech" around Palestine and the situation in Gaza.
“This lawsuit aims to vindicate the rights of all non-citizens and citizens in the US, but the courthouse is only one arena in this fight," said Lee.
"We appeal to the population: stand up and exercise your First Amendment rights by actively and vigorously opposing the danger of dictatorship.
"As we prepare to mark the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution next year, recall the words from the Declaration of Independence: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.”
Observers say the targeting of university protesters is calculated to send a chilling effect across the country.
In the wake of the political backlash, universities like New York University and Harvard have scrambled to adopt the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism as they come under federal scrutiny.
Since coming into office, Trump ordered a pause on federal grants and loans, which a judge has since blocked. The Associated Press reported in February that the Trump directive has universities nationwide "scrambling to determine how a funding freeze could affect their research programs, students, and faculty".
Columbia University has already lost $400m in federal funding, with more at risk unless they meet a number of demands from the Trump administration.
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