He Sued Trump Over Free Speech. Then ICE Demanded He Turn Himself In.

On Friday, federal officials ordered prominent activist and Cornell University graduate student Momodou Taal to surrender to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, Taal’s attorneys confirmed to The Intercept. 

Taal, a dual Gambian and British citizen in the U.S. on a student visa, is currently suing the Trump administration to block its targeting of international students protesting in support of Palestinian rights.

Along with another Cornell graduate student and professor, Taal sued the Trump administration for violating their First Amendment rights, arguing that the targeted deportations of pro-Palestinian activists has a chilling effect on free speech. The suit challenged two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders used to crack down on people advocating for Palestine.

“Nothing has changed except for the fact that we have filed this lawsuit.”

Taal’s lawyers are now arguing that the Trump administration’s request for Taal to turn himself in to ICE is a retaliation for his lawsuit and for his pro-Palestinian beliefs.

Eric Lee, an attorney representing Taal in the lawsuit called the government’s demand for Taal to turn himself in “extremely unusual” and “very concerning.”

“These types of things do not happen in a democracy where people have the right to seek redress of grievances of the government,” Lee said.

Chris Godshall-Bennett, the legal director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee who is also part of Taal’s team on the lawsuit, called the move “outrageous.” 

“There is no basis for his removal,” said Godshall-Bennett. “Nothing has changed except for the fact that we have filed this lawsuit — so it really is just an outrageous situation that should be treated as such.”

Midnight Email

In a midnight email sent to Taal’s attorneys, a lawyer with the Department of Justice relayed a request from ICE demanding Taal’s detention, inviting Taal “to surrender to ICE custody” at the agency’s Homeland Security Investigations office in Syracuse, New York, according to the attorneys and court filings, which include a copy of the email. 

Attorneys representing Taal argue that the order only further strengthens their claims that the Trump administration is targeting activists for speaking out.

The government’s demand constituted “an unlawful attempt” to use deportation “in retribution” for the lawsuit against the Trump administration, according to an emergency letter sent to the court on Friday by Taal’s lawyers. (Neither ICE nor the Department of Justice immediately responded to requests for comment.)

Federal District Court Judge Elizabeth Coombe responded to the emergency letter by ordering the government to address by Saturday whether its attempts to detain Taal are based on the very Trump executive orders at the center of his lawsuit. 

Taal’s lawyers also noted in their emergency letter that the Trump administration’s demands were unprecedented.

They wrote, “The undersigned are not aware of any other instance in which the government has attempted to initiate service of an NTA” — a notice to appear — “through the Department of Justice in response to the noncitizen filing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of presidential action.”

ICE’s Order

Before receiving the order to turn himself over, Taal expressed concerns that he was being watched, claims his attorneys corroborated in their recent filings. According to eyewitness testimonies submitted in the court filings on Wednesday, a law enforcement vehicle — the driver flashed a badge to the witnesses — was parked outside of Taal’s home in Ithaca, New York, on Wednesday. They were not able to identify what agency the official was from.

Taal’s attorneys filed a temporary restraining order the same day as the witness testimonies asking the courts to prevent the government from detaining or deporting their client before his scheduled March 25 hearing. Dozens of protesters gathered at Cornell on Thursday in support of Taal, chanting “Hands off Momodou.”

Just after midnight on Thursday, government lawyers responded by sending an email to Taal’s attorneys requesting that he turn himself to ICE agents. 

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has asked us to convey to you the following,” Ethan Kanter, an attorney with the Department of Justice wrote in an email with the subject line “Re: Momodou Taal et al v. Trump, 25-cv-335 (NDNY).” “ICE invites Mr. Taal and his counsel to appear in-person at the HSI Office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the NTA and for Mr. Taal to surrender to ICE custody. Accordingly, if you are interested in proposing such a date and time, we will promptly forward it to ICE for consideration.”

Notices to appear are often the first step in the process of deporting people from the country. The government did not set a deadline for Taal and his attorneys to schedule the surrender.

The government’s email did not mention on what grounds it wanted to detain Taal. A report from the right-wing website Washington Free Beacon claimed that the government had revoked Taal’s student visa, citing an unnamed State Department official. Taal’s attorneys, however, disputed the report and said they had not received a notice of revocation. (The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Growing Crackdown

The government’s mounting pressure against Taal comes several weeks after the Trump administration attempted to deport recent Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil over his participation in anti-genocide protests last spring. 

The arrest sparked widespread condemnation over Trump’s brazen attack on free speech rights and the movement for Palestinian liberation. 

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Attorneys continue to fight for Khalil’s release, in part, to be with his wife, Noor Abdalla, who is expected to give birth in April. Earlier this week, a judge allowed for Khalil’s case to be transferred to New Jersey, thwarting the government’s attempts to move the case to Louisiana, though Khalil remains detained in the state. 

ICE has said it also arrested another former Columbia student, Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian who took part in pro-Palestinian protests and had overstayed her student visa, as well as a Georgetown University graduate student, Badar Khan Suri, who was detained outside his Arlington, Virginia, home on Monday, and accused by the government of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.”

As in Khalil’s case, Taal had been punished by Cornell for a pro-Palestine protest. When Taal was suspended last year, the school said it planned to terminate his student visa, but reversed the decision after pushback from students and faculty.

Since Trump again took office, both activists have become the target of far-right pro-Israel groups, including one that sent their names to the administration for deportation.  

“It’s time that we exercise our rights to access the court to stop what’s happening in this country,” said Lee, Taal’s attorney. “Trump is attempting to establish a dictatorship and if we can’t fight that in the courts, what can we do?”

The post He Sued Trump Over Free Speech. Then ICE Demanded He Turn Himself In. appeared first on The Intercept.