Columbia University student Yunseo Chung is suing the Trump administration amid its efforts to deport the 21-year-old, who has been in the U.S. since she was 7 and has lawful permanent resident status.
A lawsuit was filed Monday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) got an administrative warrant for Chung’s arrest and told the South Korean native that her status was being “revoked,” even though only an immigration judge can take away a green card.
Chung has been involved in the pro-Palestinian protests on campus but has not spoken to the press or been in a high-profile position like Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia student and fellow legal immigrant who has been detained by ICE.
Her name was mentioned in media reports after participating in a protest on March 5. She was arrested for alleged “obstruction of governmental administration.”
It was soon after, the lawsuit alleges, that ICE came after her, went to her family’s home to look for her and searched her dorm room.
“ICE’s shocking actions against Ms. Chung form part of a larger pattern of attempted U.S. government repression of constitutionally protected protest activity and other forms of speech. The government’s repression has focused specifically on university students who speak out in solidarity with Palestinians and who are critical of the Israeli government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza or the pro-Israeli policies of the U.S. government and other U.S. institutions,” the suit reads.
Chung was valedictorian of her high school class and is currently finishing her third year at Columbia. The university previously cleared her of wrongdoing during disciplinary proceedings related to her protest activities.
The lawsuit alleges the government is going after her freedom of speech and using the justification that the administration deems her a threat to foreign policy to try to revoke her status.
Her attorneys told The New York Times that she is still in the country, but they declined to specify where.
The Hill has reached out to Chung’s lawyer and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Chung’s case comes as Khalil’s lawyers are still working to get him released after ICE initially transferred him to Louisiana.
The Trump administration has made clear it will go after foreign students who participate in the pro-Palestinian protests, labeling them “pro-Hamas.”
