By Sheriff Bojang Jr
It happened fast. In less than 12 hours, Momodou Taal went from a Cornell graduate student in hiding to a man slipping out of the US under threat of detention and government reprisal.
A rising voice in the pro-Palestinian campus movement, Gambian-British student Momodou Taal, 31, was forced to leave the US under the shadow of visa revocation, government surveillance and the looming threat of detention and deportation.
Taal, a graduate student at New York’s Cornell University, quickly rose to prominence as a leading voice in the surge of pro-Palestinian activism that erupted on US campuses after Israel’s October 2023 assault on Gaza. At Cornell, he helped lead a student campaign urging the university to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation.
“Our demands were clear,” Taal says in an interview with The Africa Report, speaking via Zoom en route to the UK. “We were asking for Cornell’s money not to be used for war.”
His activism included rallies, teach-ins and op-eds. That advocacy, however, came at a cost, as his growing visibility brought risk. What had empowered him also made him a target.
Legal action and government retaliation
On 15 March, Taal and two others filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to block its crackdown on foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests. The lawsuit aimed to secure protections against detention and deportation for those engaged in campus activism.
“We thought this would go to the Supreme Court,” he says. “That was the plan, but the government didn’t wait. They moved fast and lawlessly.”
Just four days later, Taal raised an alarm that agents from the Department of Homeland Security had visited his home, attempting to arrest and detain him. His lawyers went to court to stop his arrest, but that didn’t deter the authorities from pursuing him.
“When we asked the court to enjoin the administration from detaining Taal as the case progresses, the administration responded by ordering him to surrender to ICE,” says his attorney, Eric Lee.
University ‘collaboration’
Taal went into hiding, sheltering in a friend’s apartment. “I was basically in one room, hardly saw sunlight. [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE agents were looking for me,” he says.
Even a court order couldn’t guarantee his safety. “I had to make a decision,” he recalls. “Do I trust the courts and risk being bundled into an unmarked vehicle, or do I leave?”
Within 12 hours of receiving formal notice that his visa had been revoked, Taal fled the US. “I didn’t get to say goodbye to anybody,” he says. “It was so abrupt.”
The decision to leave meant Taal had to withdraw the court case he had filed, even though he had a chance of winning or at least buying more time.
“I imagined myself walking down the street after a court ruling in my favour, thinking I was safe, and then suddenly being bundled into an unmarked vehicle and taken to Louisiana,” he says. ICE operates remote detention centres in rural Louisiana, facilities that human rights groups have described as “a black hole” for due process and accountability.
The emotional toll is still fresh. “I didn’t anticipate a lot of things,” he admits. “That the government would send ICE agents to my home. That I would be forced to flee.”
What shocked him most, he says, was the willingness by US universities to “collaborate” with federal agencies. “These are the same universities that celebrate anti-apartheid activism or Vietnam protests, but when it’s Palestine, the repression is swift and brutal.”
Taal’s case has become part of a broader crackdown that civil liberties advocates warn is chilling political expression, especially when it comes to pro-Palestinian speech. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed days ago that more than 300 international students have been targeted for removal or visa revocation based on their political views, labelling them “lunatics”.
The Trump administration’s response to campus protests has drawn accusations of selective enforcement and political repression. “You can criticise the US in the US and get away with it, but not criticise Israel in the US,” says Taal.
No regrets
Still, he says he has no regrets. “Not a single one,” he insists. “If anything, I feel shame… that we haven’t remotely come close to even stopping the genocide [in Gaza].”
Taal’s involvement in the pro-Palestinian movement didn’t begin at Cornell. “I searched my name and ‘Palestine’ on Facebook recently. The first post was from 2008.”
However, it was after Israel’s October 2023 assault on Gaza that his activism took centre stage. Now headed to the UK, with plans to continue his advocacy abroad, “possibly in Egypt”, Taal remains determined. “Palestinian advocacy does not start and stop in the US,” he says. “This is a global conversation, and I’m going to contribute globally.”
To international students still in the US, he offers a measured warning and encouragement. “It’s a personal choice. People should be aware of all the risks… But I would also say that there’ll never be a time you look back at this moment and regret going so hard for Palestine.”
Regarding the Trump administration, he says: “History will not be kind to these people. If you have to abduct, survey and silence others to uphold an ideology, you’ve already lost the battle.”
The Africa Report.com
