Cornell student targeted by Trump admin says he's leaving US
Cornell University student Momodou Taal, whose visa was revoked over his involvement in pro-Palestinian campus protests, said he left the United States voluntarily on Monday after a judge declined to intervene to block the Trump administration from taking steps to deport him.
“Today I took the decision to leave the United States, free and with my head held high,” Taal wrote in a post on X.
Taal sued the Trump administration over the legality of two executive orders the administration is using in its crackdown on foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests. A judge ruled against Taal, saying the court does not have subject matter jurisdiction and the student did not show a clear threat to his constitutional rights that would be solved by the lawsuit.
Taal said he was due to submit a second briefing in court, which he planned to do “with the hope that I could stay out of detention” as the lawsuit progressed, but he decided to leave the country instead, fearing for his safety.
“Given what we have seen across the United States, I have lost faith that a favourable ruling from the courts would guarantee my personal safety and ability to express my beliefs,” Taal wrote in his statement.
“I have lost faith I could walk the streets without being abducted,” he continued. “Weighing these options, I took the decision to leave on my own terms.”
“This is of course not the outcome I had wanted going into this, but we are facing a government that has no respect for the judiciary or for the rule of the law,” he added.
Taal challenged two of Trump’s executive orders, one on combatting antisemitism and the other on threats from foreign terrorists, arguing they are being used to unfairly target pro-Palestinian protesters.
Taal was suspended from Cornell last year but then reinstated.
He gained notoriety after he posted on X following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, “Colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary” and “Glory to the resistance!”
In an interview with CNN after the incident, Taal said he’s against all killing of civilians and that he felt it was racist to have to condemn a terrorist organization every time before criticizing Israel.