Breaking News: A Columbia University student and legal U.S. resident, who is being hunted by ICE, sued the Trump administration to prevent her deportation after taking part in campus protests.
Key bits from the source doc (below) — unedited but emphasis added:
“This action challenges the government’s shocking overreach in seeking to deport a college student, Plaintiff-Petitioner Yunseo Chung, who is a lawful permanent resident of this country, because of her protected speech. The government’s actions are an unprecedented and unjustifiable assault on First Amendment and other rights, one that cannot stand basic legal scrutiny.
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.
Since 2023, along with hundreds of her peers, Ms. Chung has also participated in some student protests and demonstrations on Columbia University’s campus related to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the devastating toll it has taken on Palestinian civilians . Ms. Chung has not made public statements to the press or otherwise assumed a high-profile role in these protests . She was, rather, one of a large group of college students raising, expressing, and discussing shared concerns.
On March 5, 2025, a student sit-in and protest was held at Columbia which garnered significant public attention.Å Media reports identified Ms. Chung, along with other students, as among the protesters arrested outside of an academic building on campus. Ms. Chung was outside the building on that day to protest what she believed to be the excessive punishments meted out by the Columbia administration to student protesters facing campus disciplinary proceedings.
She herself had previously faced a university disciplinary process (which resulted in a finding that Ms. Chung was not in violation of any university policy) and wanted to support her fellow students by attending the protest. Ms. Chung was arrested and given a Desk Appearance Ticket by the New York City Police Department for “obstruction of governmental administration,” a common citation issued by the police at protests. That ticket will be adjudicated by the New York City court system in the normal course.
Mere days later, however, the federal government began a series ofunlawful efforts to arrest, detain, and remove Ms. Chung from the country because of her protected speech. It now appears that an ICE official signed an administrative arrest warrant for Ms. Chung on March 8, 2025. On March 9, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) showed up at Ms. Chung’s parents’ residence seeking her. On March 10, 2025, a federal law enforcement official advised Ms. Chung’s counsel that her lawful permanent resident status is being “revoked.” On Thursday, March 13, 2025, federal law enforcement agents executed a judicial search warrant at two Columbia owned residences, including Ms. Chung’s dormitory, seeking documents, including any occupancy or lease agreements, travel records, and immigration records—even though the warrant ostensibly targeted Columbia itself, not Ms. Chung.
ICE’s shocking actions against Ms. Chung form part of a larger pattern of attempted U.S. government repression of constitutionally protected protest activity and other forms of speech.
The government’s repression has focused specifically on university students who speak out in solidarity with Palestinians and who are critical of the Israeli government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza or the pro-Israeli policies of the U.S. government and other U.S. institutions.“
Via New York Times
Source document is here
