A Columbia College pupil who filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Trump administration was granted a brief restraining order in opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers who had been out to arrest and deport her. U.S. District Courtroom Decide Naomi Reice Buchwald issued the order Tuesday (March 25) stopping the officers from taking Yunseo Chung into custody. “Nothing within the report has indicated in any method that she is a hazard,” Buchwald stated from the bench. Chung is the most recent pupil activist who participated in pro-Palestinian protests focused by the administration after the high-profile arrest of Columbia graduate pupil Mahmoud Kahlil.
A Division of Homeland Safety official alleged that Chung “engaged in regarding conduct,” citing Chung’s arrest after a sit-in protest (which they declare was “pro-Hamas”) at a library at Barnard School, a sister college to Columbia. The 21-year-old obtained a ticket for “obstruction of governmental administration,” in keeping with her lawsuit filed with CUNY Legislation Faculty’s CLEAR (Creating Legislation Enforcement Accountability & Accountability) clinic. However ICE officers would present up at her dad and mom’ residence on March 9, and the next day Chung’s lawyer was knowledgeable that her lawful authorized everlasting standing (Chung got here to the U.S. from South Korea on the age of seven) was being revoked. ICE brokers additionally looked for Chung at two residences together with her dormitory.
The federal government, via the workplace of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is arguing that Chung’s presence within the nation is stopping their international coverage aim of combating antisemitism. Decide Buchwald swatted down their reasoning, stating that they needed to “present enough advance discover” to Chung and her authorized group. The choose additionally barred makes an attempt to switch Chung out of the Southern District of New York by ICE as they did with Kahlil by transferring him from a facility in Newark, New Jersey, to Louisiana. “No journeys to Louisiana right here,” she remarked.
“After the fixed dread behind my thoughts over the previous few weeks, this choice looks like 1,000,000 kilos off of my chest. I really feel like I may fly,” Chung stated in an announcement to the New York Occasions after the ruling, including her gratitude to her attorneys, college students, and professors at Columbia who “have given me energy at each flip.” Considered one of her attorneys, CUNY Legislation Professor Ramzi Kassem, confirmed that Chung remains to be finishing coursework to complete her junior yr.
SEE ALSO:
What Occurred To Mahmoud Khalil? Palestinian Activist Goes Lacking After ICE Arrest
Federal Decide Blocks ICE From Detaining Columbia Scholar
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