Cornell Student Activist Asked to Surrender to ICE

The Department of Justice on Friday asked a Cornell University student who is suing the Trump administration after helping lead campus protests last year to surrender to immigration authorities, according to a new court filing.

Lawyers for Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. student who is a U.S. visa holder and a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, said in court documents that he received an email from a Department of Justice lawyer informing him for the first time that the government intended to serve him with a notice to appear — which initiates the deportation process — and an invitation to surrender to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Last weekend, Taal and two U.S. citizens challenged the Trump administration’s executive orders to “combat anti-semitism” on college campuses and expel foreign nationals who the administration says pose national security threats.

Taal, 31, and the other plaintiffs have argued that the orders violate the free speech rights of international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinians in Gaza.

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Earlier this month, the administration alarmed many observers when immigration officials arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student who led similar protests at the school last year. {snip}

The Trump administration has cited an obscure national security clause in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil’s apprehension. The provision allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the United States could adversely affect foreign policy.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X earlier this month that the department would be revoking visas and green cards of noncitizens who he claims support Hamas.

Immigration officials arrested a second Columbia student, Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank who officials say overstayed her student visa. A third Columbia student, Indian national Ranjani Srinivasan, fled to Canada after her student visa was revoked. {snip}

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