Though he has not been arrested or directly approached by law enforcement, a Cornell graduate student who has been a prominent voice at pro-Palestinian protests says he is in danger of being thrown out of the country for his views and is asking a judge to preemptively order the government not to deport him.
Momodou Taal, a doctoral candidate in Africana Studies who is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and The Gambia, says he believes federal law enforcement officers have been staking out his home, likely preparing to expel him as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to target what they have called anti-Semitic speech on college campuses.
“He lives in constant fear that he may be arrested by immigration officials or police as a result of his speech,” Taal’s attorneys said in a lawsuit filed last weekend, asking a federal judge in New York to strike down two executive orders targeting universities and “foreign national” protesters.
The government had not yet filed a legal response to the federal complaint as of Friday morning. CNN reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the attorney representing the Trump administration in the lawsuit for comment.
In addition to Taal, the lawsuit’s plaintiffs include a fellow doctoral candidate and a professor at Cornell who are both US citizens, but say their First Amendment rights have been chilled by the threat of prosecution for protests against Israeli policies.
“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections,” wrote Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which is assisting in the lawsuit. “The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception.”
Taal’s efforts to fight potential deportation come only two weeks after Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A judge has blocked efforts to expel him from the country, but it was the first prominent move in a series of immigration actions aimed at college students and faculty.
Attorneys believe Taal is being monitored by law enforcement
A hearing in the lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive orders is set for next Tuesday, but Taal’s attorneys say he is at imminent risk of being deported because a person believed to be with law enforcement was recently seen waiting in a vehicle in the private parking lot outside Telluride House, the specialized academic housing on campus where Taal has been living.
The person waiting in the car was confronted by a Telluride House employee, who testified, “I went up to the man and told him, this was private property. The man took out a law enforcement badge.” The man in the car eventually drove away after being asked to leave, an affidavit says.
Another Telluride House resident said he saw two other unmarked cars that appeared to be staking out the residence, according to an affidavit from Eric Lee, an attorney representing Taal.
“We are particularly concerned about the possibility that if Mr. Taal is detained, he would be removed to a different jurisdiction,” wrote Lee. After being detained in New York, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was taken to an immigration detention facility in Louisiana, more than a thousand miles away from his attorneys.
Taal was in danger of losing visa last year
This is not the first time Momodou Taal has faced the possibility of losing his visa. Taal was suspended twice by Cornell last year for alleged disruptive protest activities, and was told that his academic suspension could cause his visa to be revoked, forcing him to leave the United States.
Taal and the school later came to an agreement allowing him to return to classes in the spring semester, but only remotely, according to Taal’s lawsuit.
He has also faced criticism for comments made online immediately after the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people. Taal tweeted “colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary” and “Glory to the resistance!”
Taal brushed off complaints about his statements in a November 2023 interview with CNN and said he was tired of constantly being asked to condemn Hamas.
“I think it’s quite racist, Islamophobic that before I’m allowed to have a view on genocide, I have to condemn a terrorist organization,” Taal said.
“I can say clearly categorically I abhor the killing of all civilians no matter where they are and who does it,” he added.
Taal is one of the pro-Palestinian activists flagged for suggested deportation by Betar US, a self-described Zionist advocacy group and the only Jewish organization classified as an extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League.
“We submitted the names of hundreds of protestors and activists to the Trump administration / DHS urging ICE to deport them under the executive orders,” Betar US spokesperson Daniel Levy told CNN Thursday.
“Those who come to the United States on visas or as naturalized citizens don’t have the right to come participate in Hamas events or support terrorist organizations,” he said.
Despite the controversy over Taal’s protests, hundreds of supporters attended an impromptu rally on the Cornell campus Thursday, CNN affiliate WBNG reported.
“Now, people are noticing. They want to come out,” Alaa Farghli, who testified he saw the suspected law enforcement vehicle outside Taal’s residence, told WBNG. “They don’t want to lose the civil liberties that they hold onto dearly.”
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