Columbia student targeted over solidarity with Palestine scores big victory against Trump
New York, New York - A judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to cease its efforts to deport a Columbia University student over her solidarity with Palestine.
President Donald Trump has targeted New York's Columbia, whose students led the way in the movement to oppose the joint US-Israel oppression and mass killing of Palestinians.
In response, the university administration has rushed to intensify a crackdown on its own students and staff, appeasing Trump and donors who have demanded an end to pro-Palestine protests.
Authorities had sought to detain Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old South Korean citizen and permanent US resident, under the same pretext they used to arrest and hold Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil pending deportation.
In both cases, the Marco Rubio's State Department used the unprecedented argument that the students were "aligned" with US enemies and undermined foreign policy through their actions.
Chung, who officers reportedly have been unable to find, sued the US government Monday, arguing that "immigration enforcement – here, immigration detention and threatened deportation – may not be used as a tool to punish noncitizen speakers who express political views disfavored by the current administration."
At an emergency hearing Tuesday, judge Naomi Buchwald ordered the government to stop its effort to locate and remove Chung, a court order said.
"Defendants-Respondents are enjoined from detaining the Plaintiff-Petitioner pending further order of this Court," Buchwald said in a temporary restraining order.
The American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association have also launched a lawsuit against the Trump administration Tuesday, arguing its policy targeting foreign academics was illegal.
In addition, the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers asked a New York judge to declare Trump's slashing of $400 million from Columbia's budget unconstitutional and to restore the funding.
Cover photo: JASON REDMOND / AFP