Taal called for fellow protestors to take their “cue from the armed resistance in Palestine.”
The visa of Cornell University graduate student Momodou Taal has been revoked by the Trump administration. Taal, a British and Gambian dual national who began studying in at the school in 2022 on an F-1 student visa, has repeatedly called for the destruction of the US and for terrorism against Israel.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, a State Department official said that Taal no longer holds an F-1 visa. In a court filing, his lawyers said that the administration has asked Taal to surrender to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in upstate New York for deportation proceedings. They wrote that the Department of Justice sent an email at 12:52 am on Friday, which stated, "ICE invites Mr. Taal and his counsel to appear in-person at the HSI Office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the NTA and for Mr. Taal to surrender to ICE custody."
Taal’s attorneys have requested an emergency temporary restraining order, claiming that Taal was being targeted over a federal lawsuit he filed on Saturday against an executive order from Trump that calls for the visas of foreign students who support terrorism to be revoked.
Per the Free Beacon, in a 2024 anti-Israel campus demonstration, Taal called for fellow protestors to take their "cue from the armed resistance in Palestine," adding, "We are in solidarity with the armed resistance in Palestine from the river to the sea."
In the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 and hundreds being taken hostage, he wrote, "The dialect demands: That wherever you have oppression, you will find those who [are] fighting against it. Glory to the resistance!"
In 2022, before he got his student visa, Taal wrote online, "The end of the US empire in our lifetime in sha Allah." He wrote in another post issued shortly after receiving his visa, Taal wrote, "Student Visa issued. We going to America baby! Alhamdulillah," posting shortly after, "My hatred of the US empire knows no bound. Wallahi."
In a July post, Taal wrote, "'The enemy of your enemy isn’t your friend, have some nuance.' When the enemy is US imperialism, then absolutely anyone the US calls an enemy is my friend."
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