An international Cornell University graduate student who sued the Trump administration over free speech concerns has voluntarily left the country and terminated his lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, called for an injunction on two executive orders they argued “authorize deportation or prosecution based on protected speech.”
Plaintiff and pro-Palestinian activist Momodou Taal was informed that his student visa was revoked after submitting the lawsuit. He is a dual-citizen of the United Kingdom and The Gambia. Court filings show that the State Department said his visa was revoked the day before he filed the lawsuit. Taal was asked him to turn himself in to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a week later.
Last week, a federal judge denied Taal’s initial requests for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented his deportation.
In a statement on social media, Taal said he chose to leave in part because he no longer felt that a positive ruling in the case would ensure his safety or ability to speak freely.
“I have lost faith I could walk the streets without being abducted,” he wrote.
The move comes nearly a week after Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk was arrested on the street by masked, plainclothes officers. She is now being held in an ICE processing facility in Louisiana.
Ozturk is one of over 300 students who have had their visas cancelled by the Trump administration for pro-Palestinian activism. Some, like Ozturk, have been arrested by ICE agents and remain in federal immigration detention facilities.
“For every person that has remained silent, just know that you are not safe either,” Taal wrote. “Is the imprisonment of those who speak out against a genocide a reflection of your values? Is this the kind of nation you want to live in?”
