Cornell student protester told to surrender to ICE as he asks judge to block deportation

Momodou Taal speaks with CNN in November 2023. CNN via CNN Newsource

A Cornell graduate student who has been a prominent voice at pro-Palestinian protests – and who faced intense criticism for declaring “glory to the resistance!” after the Hamas attack on Israel that left more than 1,200 dead – is being told to surrender to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a new court filing made shortly after he asked 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 and who has twice been suspended by Cornell for alleged disruptive protest activities, said the government was likely preparing to expel him as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to target what they have called antisemitic speech on college campuses.

In an email sent to Taal’s attorneys at 12:52 a.m. Friday, a Justice Department lawyer wrote, “ICE invites Mr. Taal and his counsel to appear in-person at the (Homeland Security Investigations) Office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the (Notice to Appear) and for Mr. Taal to surrender to ICE custody.”

A Notice to Appear is one of the first steps in the formal process of deportation. The email did not specify a deadline for Taal to surrender. “We don’t even know if that notice to appear actually exists. If it did, we think that the Justice Department would have provided us with a copy of it,” Lee said.

“It is not yet clear what grounds for removal the government alleges exist here,” Lee said in a filing Friday before federal judge Elizabeth C. Coombe, a Biden appointee.

“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 has not yet filed a formal response to the federal complaint. CNN reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and attorneys representing the Trump administration in the lawsuit for comment and has not yet received a response.

Taal’s attorney said the Trump administration responded to Taal’s lawsuit “by sending agents to stake out his house.”

“When we asked the Court to enjoin the administration from detaining Mr. Taal as the case progresses, the administration responded by ordering him to surrender to ICE. This does not happen in a democracy,” said Lee in a statement to CNN. “We are outraged, and every American should be too.”

In addition to Taal, the lawsuit’s plaintiffs include a fellow doctoral candidate and a professor at Cornell who are both U.S. 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.”

Coombe did not immediately rule on the motion for a temporary restraining order blocking Taal’s deportation, but ordered the government to respond to the request by 5 p.m. Saturday.

Taal’s attorneys will need to file a reply brief addressing any arguments made by the government, which is due by 5 p.m. on Sunday. A hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Tuesday in Syracuse, where Coombe will hear the arguments and issue a ruling “in the time it takes them to render it,” according to Lee.

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.

Taal was suspended twice last year

This is not the first time 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 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 U.S. 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.”

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 previously lived. The organization operating Telluride House tells CNN Taal has not been a resident there since February 1.

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.

“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, Khalil was taken to an immigration detention facility in Louisiana, more than a thousand miles away from his attorneys.

“The government is not just targeting Momodou — it is retaliating against him for filing a lawsuit challenging its unconstitutional actions,” co-counsel and human rights attorney Maria Kari said in a statement.

Article written by Andy Rose, CNN

CNN’s Gloria Pazmino, Elle Reeve and Chris Boyette and contributed to this report.