#ICE Got Warrants Under “#FalsePretenses,” Claims #ColumbiaStudent Targeted Over #GazaProtests

The law behind the warrants bars concealment of people in the country illegally, yet the students were legal residents living on campus.

by Shawn Musgrave, March 28 2025

"Earlier this month, while hunting for #ColumbiaUniversity students to deport over their ties to #Gaza protests, the #Trump administration convinced a federal judge to sign off on search warrants for two students’ dorm rooms — then raided the residences with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

"As details about the warrants have emerged, however, so have allegations that federal agents misled the court and secured the warrants under 'false pretenses,' as one of the students whose room was searched, #YunseoChung, claimed in a lawsuit challenging her deportation.

"The warrants were predicated on probable cause that Columbia was 'harboring' students who were in the country illegally, court filings indicate. Chung, however, is a lawful permanent resident, notwithstanding the Trump administration’s efforts to deport her based on her arrest and citation at a Gaza sit-in. She has lived in the U.S. since she was 7 years old.

"'The basis for this entire operation is constitutionally invalid.'

"'The idea that they went before a federal magistrate judge and said, ‘We have to search Ms. Chung’s residence for evidence of Columbia harboring her’ — that shows they’re willing to lie to a judge,' said Nathan Yaffe, an immigration attorney.

"Yaffe represents both Chung and the other Columbia student who was targeted by the search warrants, #RanjaniSrinivasan, who left the country in mid-March.

"Most of the materials relating to the search warrants remain under seal in federal court, and Columbia declined to comment on them, citing student privacy protections. ICE did not respond to The Intercept’s questions about the warrants.

"'If the government falsified information to get the warrant, that is its own bundle of serious problems,' said Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, an attorney at #HumanRightsFirst who also represents Chung. 'But even if not, the basis for this entire operation is constitutionally invalid.'"

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/03/28/ice-warrants-columbia-students-gaza-protests/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/ruFDs
#MahmoudKhalil #RumeysaOzturk, #YunseoChung, #BadarKhunSuri #MomodouTaal #ResistICE #Fascism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #Project2025 #ProjectEsther #USPol #Authoritarianism #TurdReich #CharacteristicsOfFascism

#PineAndRoses #NewEngland #DSA protests #ICEDetentions

Posted by #MaineDSA and Wes Pelletier | Mar 27, 2025

"Last week, the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine organized a protest of ICE detention of #ColumbiaUniversity student leader #MahmoudKhalil. Since then, ICE has operated as the #Trump Administration’s #SecretPolice, abducting a growing number of immigrant organizers for exercising their right to #FreeSpeech and protesting the U.S.-sponsored #genocide in #Gaza. The list includes #RumeysaOzturk, #YunseoChung, #BadarKhunSuri, #MomodouTaal, #RanjaniSrinivasan, as well as #farmworker organizer #AlfredoJuarezZerefino. Maine DSA member and Portland District 2 City Councilmember #WesPelletier spoke at the Portland Mahmoud Khalil protest and DSA chapters around New England issued a joint declaration reprinted below against the ICE abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk.

New England DSA chapters demand freedom for Rumeysa Ozturk

"Yesterday, ICE agents abducted Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student and pro-Palestine activist at Tufts.

"The kidnapping comes after almost 400 #ICEArrests in Massachusetts, as well as the #doxxing of Ozturk by the pro-Isreal website #CanaryMission.

"ICE’s abductions—of Ozturk, Khalil, and many others—is an unprecedented attack on basic #CivilRights in the name of U.S. Empire, whether those detained are peaceful #PoliticalActivists or undocumented #migrants seeking safety, jobs, and a better life.

"We must stand up against this brazen attack on #Palestine, #FreeSpeech, and the #RightToProtest.

"We must stand in solidarity with our neighbors and communities under attack from Trump, ICE, and all agents of #imperialism.

"Governor Healey, the courts, and the Democratic Party establishment are not coming to save us—we must mobilize, agitate, and organize in our workplaces and campuses to defend working-class rights.

In Solidarity,

#BerkshiresDSA, #BostonDSA, #BostonUniversityYDSA, #CapeCodDSA, #ConnecticutDSA, #MaineDSA, #NortheasternYDSA, #RiverValleyDSA, #SimmonsYDSA, #SouthernNewHampshireDSA, #UpperValleyDSA, #WorcesterDSA"

Source:
https://pineandroses.org/news/new-england-dsa-protests-ice-detentions/
#ResistICE #ResistFascism #Resistance #District13 #District13Resists #Fascism #USPol #Authoritarianism #TurReich #CharacteristicsOfFascism

Another case like #MahmoudKhalil & #BadarSuri:

On March 15, #MomodouTaal, a #CornellUniversity PhD student w/ #UK & #Gambia citizenship, here on a #StudentVisa, filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn #Trump's EO aimed at foreign students accused of "antisemitism”.

This morning at 12:52AM, the #DOJ emailed asking him to come to #ICE to be detained & put into removal proceedings.

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69743997/taal-v-trump/

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/09/25/uuhq-s25.html

#WorldSocialistWebSite

DISGRACEFUL! How is this legal in the US?

Cornell academic worker and international graduate student suspended and threatened with deportation for protesting #GazaGenocide
by #KevinReed 24 September 2024

#F1studentvisa #CornellUniversity #MomodouTaal #UK
#ProtestIsNOTACrime #FreeFreePalestine