A Cornell University student facing deportation was denied relief by the federal judge hearing his legal challenge against the Trump administration.
Judge Elizabeth Coombe rejected on Thursday requests from Momodou Taal to temporarily halt his removal proceedings and the enforcement of two executive orders from President Donald Trump.
The 31-year-old citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia had his student visa revoked this month and was asked to surrender to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities for removal proceedings.
Taal's case comes as the Trump administration attempts to remove noncitizens from the country for participating in pro-Palestine campus protests that the government deems antisemitic and sympathetic to the resistance group Hamas. Students say the government is targeting them for advocating for Palestinian rights.
Taal and two co-plaintiffs filed a lawsuit on March 15 seeking to block enforcement of executive orders he believed could lead to his deportation, arguing they violate free speech rights.
He was told a week after filing the lawsuit that his student visa had been revoked before the suit was filed, but that ICE agents had trouble locating him.
The government says Taal's visa was revoked because of his alleged involvement in "disruptive protests," disregarding university policies and creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.
Taal's lawyer, Eric Lee, said at a hearing Tuesday that his client was being targeted for exercising free speech.
Coombe wrote that Taal did not meet the high burden for the temporary restraining orders. The judge added that Taal had not established that she had jurisdiction to halt his removal proceedings, which play out in immigration courts.
Taal, a doctoral student in Africana studies, was suspended last fall after a group of pro-Palestine activists disrupted a campus career fair.
The changes include an overhaul to the campus protest policies and a review of the college's Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department, the Center for Palestine Studies and the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies.
Crackdown on pro-Palestine students
Taal's case is among a growing list of incidents involving authorities targeting pro-Palestine students for protesting Israel's genocide in besieged Gaza, which reportedly killed around 62,000 Palestinians.
On March 8, authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent Palestinian activist and a student at Columbia University. Trump hailed his arrest and said it was the "first of many."
Trump, without evidence, accused Khalil of supporting Hamas. Khalil denies links to the resistance group.
A few days after Khalil's arrest, Trump's claim came due after another pro-Palestine student, Badar Khan Suri, an Indian researcher at Georgetown University, was arrested. His attorney said he was arrested because of the Palestinian identity of his wife.
On March 25, Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old pro-Palestine Columbia student, sued the Trump admin to stop her deportation, saying authorities employed the same tactics on Khalil against her.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish PhD student at Tuft University, was abducted in broad daylight by authorities for criticising Israel's genocide in the blockaded enclave, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio defending the revocation of her visa.
On Thursday, Rubio said the US cancelled visas of over 300 pro-Palestine students, who he called "lunatics", for protesting Israel's carnage.
