A Columbia University student, Yunseo Chung, who moved to the United States as a child, has sued the Donald Trump administration over attempts to deport her for participating in pro-Palestinian protests.
21-year-old Chung, a legal permanent US resident who moved from South Korea when she was seven, alleges immigration officials have executed search warrants at multiple Columbia facilities, including her dormitory.
This follows the administration’s recent detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent pro-Palestinian activist, who helped negotiate between university officials and student protesters.
The lawsuit against Trump seeks to block her detention and deportation, citing First Amendment and other constitutional rights.
In the suit filed on Tuesday, it alleged that Trump administration officials began efforts to arrest and detain Ms Chung, days after the 5 March sit-in protest which she attended.
The petition also names other students facing deportation, including Cornell doctoral student Momodou Taal and Columbia international student Ranjani Srinivasan, whose visa was revoked.
According to Chung’s lawyers, she participated in campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, but had not made statements to the press or taken on a high-profile role like Mr Khalil.
“The suit challenges what it describes as the Trump administration’s ‘pattern and practice of targeting individuals associated with protests for Palestinian rights for immigration enforcement in retaliation for their core protected political speech”, her lawyers said.
However, the Department of Homeland Security claims Chung engaged in “concerning conduct”, including her arrest at a nearby Barnard College demonstration over student expulsions linked to pro-Palestinian protests.
Trump officials have cited the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the State Department to deport non-citizens who are “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests” of the US.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that under this statute, the US could deport visa and green-card holders for “virtually any reason”.
The administration has also revoked $400 million in Columbia funding over allegations that the university failed to combat antisemitism on campus.
The university has agreed to several demands from Trump officials, including requiring protesters to provide identification, for it to consider reinstating the funding.
