A Cornell University Ph.D student claims he was ordered to surrender to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after filing suit against the Trump Administration to continue his studies in Ithaca after spending five minutes at a pro-Palestinian demonstration. A lawyer for Momodou Taal claims his client — who holds U.K. and Gambian citizenship — sued to block the administration from enforcing crackdowns against international students opposing Israeli military activity in Gaza on March 15. The 31-year-old academic was soon after told to report to immigration officials, according to attorney Eric Lee. “If the First Amendment does not protect the right to attend a demonstration, what’s left?” Lee asked. “Not much.” Taal allegedly attended a career fair protest briefly and faced no criminal charges. His lawyer said officials didn’t set a deadline for his surrender. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers argued in a court filing that Taal’s student visa was revoked over “disruptive protests” before he filed his lawsuit, but ICE agents hadn’t been able to ascertain his location. The African studies scholar is studying remotely after a pair of suspensions from Cornell left him with limited access to the Ivy League school’s campus. Taal’s predicament appears to resemble the case of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, whom federal immigration officials arrested on March 8 inside his university-owned apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, according to his lawyers. The 30-year-old Syrian native, who’d been visible and vocal during demonstrations against the Israeli occupation of Gaza following a Hamas’ terror attack on Israel in October 2023, appeared Friday in a Louisiana immigration court, where his lawyers are trying to prevent his deportation. Khalil is a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record whose wife is an American citizen with a baby on the way. The Trump Administration is arguing that a statute allows the federal government to expel residents posing a “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” He told the ACLU from a Louisiana detention center that he’s a “political prisoner” who’s recently met inmates with stories similar to his own. “The Trump administration is targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent,” Khalil claimed. “Visa holders, green card carriers, and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs.” He entered the U.S. in December 2022 on a student visa and became a lawful permanent resident in November 2024, according to NBC News. With News Wire Services ...read more read less