UPDATE
Mar 26, 2025 1:00 AM CDT
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that the Trump administration's attempts to arrest and deport a 21-year-old Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian protests must cease. The judge found there to be no indication Yunseo Chung—a legal permanent resident who was arrested at a protest earlier this month but has not yet been detained as part of ICE's efforts to deport her—is a danger to the community or foreign policy, nor any indication she has communicated with terrorist groups, the New York Times reports. "She's a college junior doing what generations of college students before have done, which is speak up and protest," said her lawyer, who praised the judge's decision. It's a temporary restraining order, meaning she can't be detained as her immigration case moves forward, NBC News reports.
Mar 25, 2025 1:30 AM CDT
Another Columbia University student said Monday that the Trump administration has targeted her for deportation over her pro-Palestinian views, accusing immigration officials in a lawsuit of employing the same tactics used on Mahmoud Khalil and other college activists, the AP reports. Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old lawful permanent resident who came to the US as a child, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved to deport her after she was arrested March 5 while protesting the Ivy League school's disciplinary actions against student protesters. News reports at the time identified her as being among a group of protesters arrested after a sit-in at a library on the adjacent Barnard College campus.
Within days of her arrest, Chung said in the lawsuit, ICE officials signed an administrative arrest warrant and went to her parents' residence seeking to detain her. On March 10, Chung said, a federal law enforcement official told her lawyer that her lawful permanent resident status was being "revoked." Three days later, Chung said, law enforcement agents executed search warrants at two Columbia-owned residences, including her dormitory, seeking travel and immigration records, and other documents. Chung has lived in the US since emigrating from South Korea with her parents at age 7, according to her lawsuit.
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The Columbia junior is seeking a court order to block the Trump administration's efforts to deport noncitizens who participated in campus protests against Israel's military actions in Gaza. She is asking a judge to prevent the administration from detaining her, moving her out of New York City, or removing her from the country while her lawsuit plays out. Chung's lawsuit cites the administration's efforts to deport five other students who've spoken out, including Khalil and Momodou Taal, of Cornell University, who received a notice last week to surrender to immigration authorities after he sued on March 15 to preempt deportation efforts. "If the First Amendment does not protect the right to attend a demonstration, what's left?" Taal's lawyer says. "Not much."
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