Pro-Palestinian Cornell Student to Leave US After Officials Asked for Surrender

A Cornell University student who participated in pro-Palestinian protests and was asked to surrender by U.S. immigration officials said on Monday he was leaving the United States, citing fear of detention and threats to his personal safety.

Momodou Taal, a doctoral candidate in Africana Studies and dual citizen of the UK and The Gambia, has participated in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in Gaza following an October 2023 Hamas attack. His attorneys said last month that he was asked to turn himself in and that his student visa was being revoked.

President Donald Trump has pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters and accused them of supporting Hamas, being antisemitic and posing foreign policy hurdles.

Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the Trump administration wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for militant group Hamas.

Last year, Taal was in a group of activists who disrupted a career fair on campus that featured weapons manufacturers and the university thereafter ordered him to study remotely. He previously posted online that "colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary."

Taal filed a lawsuit in mid-March to block deportations of protesters, a bid that was denied by a judge last week.