A Cornell University student facing deportation after his visa was revoked because of his campus activism said he decided to leave the United States voluntarily.
Momodou Taal, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, had asked a federal court to halt his detention after the Trump administration had forced him to surrender.
The government says it revoked Taal´s student visa because of his alleged involvement in ‘disruptive protests.’
However, he posted on X late Monday, March 31, that he didn’t believe a legal ruling in his favor would guarantee his safety or ability to speak out.
‘I have lost faith I could walk the streets without being abducted,’ Taal wrote from an unknown location.
‘Weighing up these options, I took the decision to leave on my own terms.’
He claimed that Donald Trump ‘did not want me to have my day in court and sent ICE agents to my home and revoked my visa.’
Taal referred to the Trump White House as ‘a government that has no respect for the judiciary or for the rule of law.’
He then warned others ‘that you are not safe either’ for remaining silent.
Taal asked: ‘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?’
He finished by saying that ‘history will absolve us’ and added: ‘Long live the student intifada!’
The government says it revoked Taal´s student visa in March because of his involvement in ‘disruptive protests,’ as well as for disregarding university policies and creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.
The Trump administration has attempted to remove noncitizens from the country for participating in campus protests that it deems anti-Semitic and sympathetic to the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
Students say the government is targeting them for advocating for Palestinian rights.
Taal, a 31-year-old doctoral student in Africana studies at the Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York, was suspended last fall after a group of pro-Palestinian activists disrupted a campus career fair.
Taal filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration citing his right to free speech. The lawsuit was withdrawn Monday.
In his post, Taal didn’t say where he was writing from or where he intended to live next.
