A federal decide Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from deporting a Columbia College scholar who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the college.
Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old junior and lawful everlasting resident, filed a authorized problem someday earlier over efforts by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain and deport her, which up to now have been unsuccessful.
U.S. District Choose Naomi Buchwald agreed to Chung’s request to quickly block the Trump administration from detaining or transferring her out of New York till the court docket can extra totally think about her arguments. Buchwald is an appointee of former President Clinton.
Chung has lived in the US since she moved from South Korea at age 7. She says ICE has regarded for her at her dad and mom’ home and executed a search warrant at her faculty dormitory, claiming the trouble quantities to unconstitutional retaliation in violation of the First Modification, amongst different claims.
Immigration authorities have sought to detain Chung underneath the identical provision used to justify detaining Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia scholar who performed a extra distinguished function by main among the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the college.
The supply makes somebody deportable if the secretary of state fairly believes their continued presence within the nation “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
Buchwald’s order additionally requires the federal government to offer “sufficient advance notice” in the event that they try to justify detaining Chung underneath one other provision.
The Hill has reached out to the Justice Division for remark.
“The government’s actions are an unprecedented and unjustifiable assault on First Amendment and other rights, one that cannot stand basic legal scrutiny,” Chung’s attorneys wrote in court docket filings.
“Simply put, immigration enforcement—here, immigration detention and threatened deportation—may not be used as a tool to punish noncitizen speakers who express political views disfavored by the current administration,” they continued.
Chung is represented by a number of legislation corporations, the Metropolis College of New York’s CLEAR Venture, Human Rights First and the Attorneys’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Space.
