Columbia student, 21, arrested during anti-Israel protest faces deportation by Trump admin: lawsuit
A Columbia University junior who was arrested earlier this month during an anti-Israel protest and is now facing deportation sued President Trump and other high-ranking officials Monday to stop the feds from throwing her out of the country.Immigration authorities are attempting to deport 21-year-old Yunseo Chung — who moved to the United States from South Korea nearly 15 years ago with her family — at a time when the Trump administration has said it wants to boot non-citizens who officials deem a threat to foreign policy.Chung, who is a legal permanent resident and has called the US home since she was 7 years old, was not in federal custody as of Monday.Her lawyer would not tell the New York Times where she currently was other than to confirm she was still in the country.The college student apparently landed on the feds’ radar after she and other students were arrested on March 5 during a sit-in at a Barnard academic building in protest of punishments the Columbia-affiliated college doled out to anti-Israel agitators.She was charged with obstructing governmental administration and issued a desk appearance ticket by the NYPD.A few days later Department of Homeland Security agents visited Chung’s parents’ home searching for her as a federal agent reached out to the student around the same time via text message, according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.
When an attorney representing Chung contacted the agent, she was told the State Department was revoking Chung’s legal status and had an administrative warrant for her arrest, the legal papers state.The lawsuit also revealed her dorm was among two Columbia-owned residences raided by federal law enforcement on March 13 – which interim school President Katrina Armstrong said at the time she was “heartbroken” by.Chung’s legal team argued the actions by the Trump administration were an attempt to “chill” her free speech. “The government’s retaliation against Ms.
Chung comes in ...