A Cornell University student facing deportation after his visa was revoked because of his campus activism said he decided to leave the United States voluntarily.
Momodou Taal, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, had asked a federal court to halt his detention after the Trump administration had forced him to surrender.
The government says it revoked Taal´s student visa because of his alleged involvement in ‘disruptive protests.’
But he posted on X late Monday that he didn’t believe a legal ruling in his favor would guarantee his safety or ability to speak out.
‘I have lost faith I could walk the streets without being abducted,’ Taal wrote from an unknown location.
‘Weighing up these options, I took the decision to leave on my own terms.’
He claimed that Donald Trump ‘did not want me to have my day in court and sent ICE agents to my home and revoked my visa.’
Taal referred to the Trump White House as ‘a government that has no respect for the judiciary or for the rule of law.’
A Cornell University student facing deportation after his visa was revoked because of his campus activism said he decided to leave the United States, declaring: ‘Long live the student intifada!’
He claimed that Donald Trump ‘did not want me to have my day in court and sent ICE agents to my home and revoked my visa’
He then warned others ‘that you are not safe either’ for remaining silent.
Taal asked: ‘Is the imprisonment of those who speak out against a genocide a reflection of your values? Is this the kind of nation you want to live in?’
He finished by saying that ‘history will absolve us’ and added: ‘Long live the student intifada!’
Intifada is an Arabic word for a rebellion or uprising, or a resistance movement. The word has acquired connotations through two Palestinian uprisings against Israel, between 1987 and 1993, and between 2000 and 2005.
The government says it revoked Taal´s student visa in March because of his involvement in ‘disruptive protests,’ as well as for disregarding university policies and creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.
The Trump administration has attempted to remove noncitizens from the country for participating in campus protests that it deems anti-Semitic and sympathetic to the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
Students say the government is targeting them for advocating for Palestinian rights.
Taal, a 31-year-old doctoral student in Africana studies at the Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York, was suspended last fall after a group of pro-Palestinian activists disrupted a campus career fair.
Taal, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, had asked a federal court to halt his detention. But he posted on X late Monday that he didn’t believe a legal ruling in his favor would guarantee his safety or ability to speak out
He had been continuing his studies remotely this semester.
Taal filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration citing his right to free speech.
The lawsuit was withdrawn Monday.
In his post, Taal didn’t say where he was writing from or where he intended to live next.
He didn’t immediately respond to a text seeking comment.
‘Everything I have tried to do has been in service of affirming the humanity of the Palestinian people, a struggle that will leave a lasting mark on me,’ Taal wrote.
His attorney, Eric Lee, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Lee posted on X : ‘What is America if people like Momodou are not welcome here?’
People with ties to American universities, most of whom have shown support for anti-Israel causes, have been detained in the Trump administration´s crackdown on immigrants.
Taal filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration citing his right to free speech. The lawsuit was withdrawn Monday
Trump and other officials have accused protesters and others of being ‘pro-Hamas,’ referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Many protesters have said they were speaking out against Israel’s actions in the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Trump´s administration has cited a seldom-invoked statute authorizing the secretary of state to revoke visas of noncitizens who could be considered a threat to foreign policy interests.
More than half a dozen people are known to have been taken into custody or deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in recent weeks.
Among them is 30-year-old Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was detained on Tuesday as she walked along a street in suburban Boston.
A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said without providing evidence that an investigation found Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University, ‘engaged in activities in support of Hamas,’ which is also a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
Friends and colleagues of Ozturk said her only known activism was co-authoring an op-ed in a student newspaper that called on Tufts University to engage with student demands to cut ties with Israel.
Ozturk has been taken to an ICE detention center in Louisiana. A U.S. District judge in Massachusetts on Friday said Ozturk can´t be deported to Turkey without a court order and gave the government until Tuesday evening to respond to an updated complaint filed by Ozturk´s attorneys.
This month, immigration enforcement agents arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, Palestinian activist and graduate student who was prominent in protests at Columbia last year.
The administration has said it revoked Khalil´s green card because his role in the campus protests amounted to anti-Semitic support for Hamas. He is fighting deportation.
