A Cornell University rabble-rouser whose student visa was revoked over his involvement in anti-Israel campus protests has fled the US to escape being nabbed by immigration agents.
Momodou Taal, a dual citizen of the UK and Gambia, claimed he left the country “free and with my head held high” after a federal judge declined to halt his possible detention while he tried to fight his deportation under the Trump administration.
“I have lost faith I could walk the streets without being abducted,” the 31-year-old ranted in a lengthy X post late Monday. “Weighing up these options, I took the decision to leave on my own terms.”
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The Trump administration says it revoked Taal’s student visa because of his involvement in “disruptive protests” at the Ivy League school in Ithaca, NY, last year — as well as for disregarding university policies and creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.
Taal, a 31-year-old doctoral student in Africana studies, had been suspended last fall for participating in a pair of disruptive on-campus anti-Israel protests.
He had continued his studies remotely this semester, but last month, he was ordered to turn himself in to immigration officials over the terminated visa.
Taal had tried to stave off deportation with a lawsuit claiming his actions fell under free speech.
“I decided to sue the Trump administration with the hope that it would offer reprieve for myself and other similarly situated persons,” Taal said in the X post.
“But Trump did not want me to have my day in court and sent ICE agents to my home and revoked my visa.”
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“We held out, but our first motion was denied. We were due to submit a second briefing with the hope that I could stay out of detention whilst the lawsuit progressed,” he continued.
“This, of course, is 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.”
The lawsuit was abruptly withdrawn Monday amid the news he had left the country.
It wasn’t immediately clear when Taal left the US or from where he was posting.
Taal’s sudden departure comes amid a spate of recent foreign student deportations after President Trump vowed to crack down on anti-Israel college protesters.
Among them is Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested in early March and is embroiled in a legal spat over his detention.
Trump has accused Khalil of supporting Hamas, but the student protester has denied any such links.
Meanwhile, Badar Khan Suri, an Indian studying at Georgetown University, was detained earlier in March over allegations he was supporting the terror group. A federal judge has barred Suri’s deportation for now.
A judge also recently ruled that Yunseo Chung, a Korean American Columbia University student, could not be detained after her lawful permanent resident status was revoked.
