A Columbia College junior who was arrested earlier this month throughout an anti-Israel protest and is now going through deportation sued President Trump and different high-ranking officers Monday to cease the feds from throwing her overseas.
Immigration authorities are trying to deport 21-year-old Yunseo Chung — who moved to the US from South Korea almost 15 years in the past together with her household — at a time when the Trump administration has stated it desires as well non-citizens who officers deem a risk to overseas coverage.
Chung, who’s a authorized everlasting resident and has known as the US residence since she was 7 years previous, was not in federal custody as of Monday. Her lawyer wouldn’t inform the New York Occasions the place she at present was aside from to substantiate she was nonetheless within the nation.
The school scholar apparently landed on the feds’ radar after she and different college students have been arrested on March 5 throughout a sit-in at a Barnard educational constructing in protest of punishments the Columbia-affiliated school doled out to anti-Israel agitators.
She was charged with obstructing governmental administration and issued a desk look ticket by the NYPD.
A number of days later Division of Homeland Safety brokers visited Chung’s mother and father’ residence looking for her as a federal agent reached out to the coed across the similar time by way of textual content message, in accordance with the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court docket.
When an lawyer representing Chung contacted the agent, she was informed the State Division was revoking Chung’s authorized standing and had an administrative warrant for her arrest, the authorized papers state.
The lawsuit additionally revealed her dorm was amongst two Columbia-owned residences raided by federal legislation enforcement on March 13 – which interim college President Katrina Armstrong stated on the time she was “heartbroken” by.
Chung’s authorized workforce argued the actions by the Trump administration have been an try and “chill” her free speech.
“The government’s retaliation against Ms. Chung comes in a broader context of retaliation against other noncitizens who have exercised their First Amendment rights,” her authorized workforce argued.
“Officials at the highest levels of the federal government have made clear that they intend to use immigration enforcement to punish noncitizens who speak out in support of Palestinians and Palestinian rights, or who are perceived to have engaged in such speech.”
A Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson informed the Occasions Chung “engaged in concerning conduct, including when she was arrested by NYPD during a pro-Hamas protest at Barnard College. She is being sought for removal proceedings under the immigration laws.”
A small handful of anti-Israel demonstrators have confronted potential deportation – most notably former Columbia scholar Mahmoud Khalil who was entrance and middle throughout tense protests final 12 months on the elite college.
Khalil, who arrived within the US in 2022 to pursue a grasp’s diploma, initially had a scholar visa earlier than he grew to become a everlasting resident two years later.
He was taken into custody on March 8 and is at present detained at a Louisiana facility as his legal professionals and the federal authorities conflict over his future within the nation.
Chung confronted a faculty disciplinary continuing final 12 months after she plastered posters that said Columbia Board of Trustees have been “Wanted for Complicity in Genocide,” however the college in the end discovered she didn’t violate any guidelines.
The lawsuit, which additionally lists Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Legal professional Normal Pamela Bondi, Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem and different Trump officers, calls on a choose to scrap the federal government’s deportation of Chung and shield her from arrest within the meantime.
The Publish has sought remark from the State Division, Legal professional Normal’s Workplace and Division of Homeland Safety.
