Columbia student takes legal action against Trump after federal agents searched her dorm: lawsuit
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- A 21-year-old junior at Columbia University said she was who federal agents were after when they showed up at a residence on West 113 Street earlier this month and she is now suing President Donald Trump.
Yunseo Chung, a legal permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. since she moved from South Korea at age 7, participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and accused Trump and other officials of "attempting to use immigration enforcement as a bludgeon to suppress speech that they dislike, including Ms.
Chung's speech."
Since Chung participated in a March 5 sit-in inside and a demonstration outside an academic building at Barnard College, the feds have searched her dorm, showed up at her parents' house and revoked her status as a legal permanent resident, according to her lawsuit.
"The prospect of imminent detention, to be followed by deportation proceedings, has chilled her speech. Ms. Chung is now concerned about speaking up about the ongoing ordeal of Palestinians in Gaza as well as what is happening on her own campus: the targeting of her fellow students by the federal government, the arbitrary disciplinary process she and others are undergoing, and the failure of the university to protect noncitizen students," the lawsuit said. "If Ms. Chung is detained and deported, she will be indefinitely separated from her family and community. Ms. Chung's parents reside in the continental United States, and her sister is set to start college in the United States in the fall."
The Trump administration argues her presence poses risks to foreign policy and to halting the spread of antisemitism, the same rationale the administration invoked for the detention of Mahmoud Khalil.
The Columbia University graduate student was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on what he calls antisemitic and "anti-American" campus protests. Khalil served as a spokesperson and negotiator last year for pro-Palestinian demonstrators who opposed Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
Khalil, who was born in Syria to a Palestinian family, has said in a statement that his detention reflects "anti-Palestinian racism" in the U.S.
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