A US-based Gambian student who organised pro-Palestine protests has been ordered to surrender to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE officials – even though he hasn’t broken any laws.
Momodou Taal, a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and The Gambia, received the order shortly after asking a judge to bar the government from deporting him.
A doctoral candidate in Africana Studies at the prestigious New York University, Taal had filed a lawsuit a week ago requesting a judge strike down two of President Trump’s executive orders targeting foreign protesters at US campuses.
In the filing, Taal said he ‘lives in constant fear that he may be arrested by immigration officials or police as a result of his speech.’
Taal’s attorneys reportedly then received an email from the Justice Department at 1am Friday inviting him ‘to appear in-person at the (Homeland Security Investigations) Office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the (Notice to Appear) and for Mr Taal to surrender to ICE custody,’ reports CNN.
A notice to appeal is one of the formal steps toward deportation. However, the email did not specify a deadline for the student to surrender to ICE.
Eric Lee, one of Taal’s attorneys, said in a filing on Friday that ‘it is not yet clear what grounds for removal the government alleges exist here.’
Taal had previously played a leading role in organising pro-Palestine protests, and his X account includes several posts calling for the destruction of Israel and justifying the October 7 attacks by saying ‘colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary.’
Taal made headlines with his lawsuit a week ago attempting to pre-emptively stop the government from deporting him, saying he feared he would be because his name had been floated on social media as a potential ICE target.
As of Friday evening, the government had not yet filed a formal response to his legal action, while attorneys for Taal have asked the court to delay his surrender to ICE pending the outcome of his lawsuit.
The DOJ’s actions against Taal come as the Trump administration vowed to crack down on foreign nationals protesting on US campuses, particularly aimed at pro-Palestine organisers.
