ICE wants to deport 21 year-old green card holder because of her 'protesting'
Image: Shutterstock
Carl Gibson
March 25, 2025
ALTERNET
Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently attempted to arrest and deport a 21 year-old legal permanent resident who has been in the United States since she was a child. She's now suing President Donald Trump's administration over the attempted arrest.
The New York Times reported Monday that Yunseo Chung, whose family emigrated to the U.S. when she was seven years old, is suing Trump and other top administration officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, among others after federal agents raided her Columbia University dormitory on March 13. The lawsuit describes how ICE agents "executed search warrants" between 9 PM and 10 PM under the so-called "harboring" statute, looking for documents regarding her affiliation with Columbia, lease agreements and any immigration paperwork.
Attorneys for Chung, who was a valedictorian at her high school, argue that the warrant was obtained under false pretenses and that Chung was being singled out for her pro-Palestinian activism. They pointed to one revealing remark from an employee of Homeland Security Investigations (a sub-agency within ICE) in which Chung was told the State Department was seeking to revoke her green card "due to the situation with the protesting."
Chung's attorneys also revealed in the lawsuit that Perry Carbone, who is an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that the State Department was revoking Chung's visa. When Chung's lawyer told Carbone that she was a legal permanent resident with a green card, Carbone responded: "The secretary of state has revoked that, too." Carbone was apparently stonewalled when Chung's legal counsel informed him that Rubio didn't have the authority to unilaterally revoke a green card.
Monday's lawsuit against the Trump administration comes not long after Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil — who is married to a U.S. citizen — was arrested and put in deportation proceedings without being booked on any charges. Khalil, who was born in Syria, was a prominent figure in last year's pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Columbia's campus. Masked ICE agents also recently arrested Dr. Badar Suri Khan, who is a postgraduate student at Georgetown University and an Indian national legally in the U.S. on a student visa, and placed him in deportation proceedings.
Both Khalill and Khan are being detained under a statute that allows for the detention of noncitizens if the government believes their presence could constitute a threat to the administration's foreign policy. Chung argued in her lawsuit that her arrest, as well as the arrests of Khalil and Khan, were in retaliation for their pro-Palestinian activism.
"Officials at the highest levels of the federal government have made clear that they intend to use immigration enforcement to punish noncitizens who speak out in support of Palestinians and Palestinian rights, or who are perceived to have engaged in such speech," the lawsuit read. "Some opponents of these protest activities, including President Donald J. Trump, frequently mischaracterize peaceful protest and any speech in favor of Palestinian rights as inherently supportive of Hamas or terrorism and anti-Semitic."
Click here to read the Times' report in full (subscription required),
Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently attempted to arrest and deport a 21 year-old legal permanent resident who has been in the United States since she was a child. She's now suing President Donald Trump's administration over the attempted arrest.
The New York Times reported Monday that Yunseo Chung, whose family emigrated to the U.S. when she was seven years old, is suing Trump and other top administration officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, among others after federal agents raided her Columbia University dormitory on March 13. The lawsuit describes how ICE agents "executed search warrants" between 9 PM and 10 PM under the so-called "harboring" statute, looking for documents regarding her affiliation with Columbia, lease agreements and any immigration paperwork.
Attorneys for Chung, who was a valedictorian at her high school, argue that the warrant was obtained under false pretenses and that Chung was being singled out for her pro-Palestinian activism. They pointed to one revealing remark from an employee of Homeland Security Investigations (a sub-agency within ICE) in which Chung was told the State Department was seeking to revoke her green card "due to the situation with the protesting."
Chung's attorneys also revealed in the lawsuit that Perry Carbone, who is an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that the State Department was revoking Chung's visa. When Chung's lawyer told Carbone that she was a legal permanent resident with a green card, Carbone responded: "The secretary of state has revoked that, too." Carbone was apparently stonewalled when Chung's legal counsel informed him that Rubio didn't have the authority to unilaterally revoke a green card.
Monday's lawsuit against the Trump administration comes not long after Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil — who is married to a U.S. citizen — was arrested and put in deportation proceedings without being booked on any charges. Khalil, who was born in Syria, was a prominent figure in last year's pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Columbia's campus. Masked ICE agents also recently arrested Dr. Badar Suri Khan, who is a postgraduate student at Georgetown University and an Indian national legally in the U.S. on a student visa, and placed him in deportation proceedings.
Both Khalill and Khan are being detained under a statute that allows for the detention of noncitizens if the government believes their presence could constitute a threat to the administration's foreign policy. Chung argued in her lawsuit that her arrest, as well as the arrests of Khalil and Khan, were in retaliation for their pro-Palestinian activism.
"Officials at the highest levels of the federal government have made clear that they intend to use immigration enforcement to punish noncitizens who speak out in support of Palestinians and Palestinian rights, or who are perceived to have engaged in such speech," the lawsuit read. "Some opponents of these protest activities, including President Donald J. Trump, frequently mischaracterize peaceful protest and any speech in favor of Palestinian rights as inherently supportive of Hamas or terrorism and anti-Semitic."
Click here to read the Times' report in full (subscription required),
and click here to read Chung's lawsuit.
Another Columbia Protester Targeted for Deportation Sues Trump
One of Yunseo Chung's attorneys said that the Trump administration's "efforts to punish and suppress speech it disagrees with smack of McCarthyism."
Yunseo Chung sued U.S. President Donald Trump and other administration officials for trying to deport her.
(Photo: CLEAR via The New York Times)
Jessica Corbett
Mar 24, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Yunseo Chung, a junior at Columbia University, sued U.S. President Donald Trump and other top officials in the Southern District of New York on Monday, challenging "the government's shocking overreach in seeking to deport a college student... who is a lawful permanent resident of this country, because of her protected speech."
The 21-year-old, who moved from South Korea to the United States with her family at age 7, participated in some student protests on Columbia's campus "related to Israel's military campaign in Gaza and the devastating toll it has taken on Palestinian civilians," states the complaint. "Chung has not made public statements to the press or otherwise assumed a high-profile role in these protests. She was, rather, one of a large group of college students raising, expressing, and discussing shared concerns."
Earlier this month, she was arrested by the New York Police Department at a student sit-in "to protest what she believed to be the excessive punishments meted out by the Columbia administration to student protesters facing campus disciplinary proceedings," the document details. "Mere days later... the federal government began a series of unlawful efforts to arrest, detain, and remove Ms. Chung from the country because of her protected speech."
The suit asserts that Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) "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," specifically, "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."
Professors at other U.S. universities called the Trump administration's targeting of Chung " frightening" and "absolutely chilling to free speech."
In addition to Trump, Chung is suing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, and William Joyce, head of ICE's field office in New York. Her lawyers are seeking a temporary restraining order "barring the government from detaining her based on her protected speech and in the absence of independent, legitimate grounds."
Naz Ahmad, one of Chung's lawyers and co-director of Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR), toldThe New York Times that the Trump administration's "efforts to punish and suppress speech it disagrees with smack of McCarthyism."
"Like many thousands of students nationwide, Yunseo raised her voice against what is happening in Gaza and in support of fellow students facing unfair discipline," Ahmad added. "It can't be the case that a straight-A student who has lived here most of her life can be whisked away and potentially deported, all because she dares to speak up."
The newspaper noted how Chung's case resembles that of Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident arrested earlier this month after helping lead protests at Columbia, where he finished graduate studies last year:
On March 10, Perry Carbone, a high-ranking lawyer in the federal prosecutor's office, told Ms. Ahmad, Ms. Chung's attorney, that the secretary of state, Mr. Rubio, had revoked Ms. Chung's visa. Ms. Ahmad responded that Ms. Chung was not in the country on a visa and was a permanent resident. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Carbone responded that Mr. Rubio had "revoked that" as well.
The conversation echoed an exchange between Mr. Khalil's lawyers and the immigration agents who arrested him and who did not initially appear to be aware of his residency status.
After his arrest, Mr. Khalil was swiftly transferred, first to New Jersey and ultimately to Louisiana, where he has been detained since. The statute that the Trump administration used to justify his detention and Ms. Chung's potential deportation says that the secretary of state can move against noncitizens whose presence he has reasonable grounds to believe threatens the country's foreign policy agenda. Homeland security officials have since added other allegations against Mr. Khalil.
Chung and Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, aren't the only critics of Israel's assault on Gaza targeted by the administration. As Common Dreamsreported last week, masked immigration authorities "abducted"Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow on a student visa. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said Rubio determined Suri's "activities and presence" in the United States "rendered him deportable."
Chung's complaint points to the cases of Khalil, Suri, Columbia graduate student Ranjani Srinivasan, Leqaa Kordia, and Cornell University doctoral student Momodou Taal. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee earlier this month sued the president, Noem, and DHS on behalf of Taal, Cornell doctoral student Sriram Parasurama, and professor Mukoma Wa Ngũgĩ over "the Trump administration's unconstitutional campaign against free speech."
One of Yunseo Chung's attorneys said that the Trump administration's "efforts to punish and suppress speech it disagrees with smack of McCarthyism."
Yunseo Chung sued U.S. President Donald Trump and other administration officials for trying to deport her.
(Photo: CLEAR via The New York Times)
Jessica Corbett
Mar 24, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Yunseo Chung, a junior at Columbia University, sued U.S. President Donald Trump and other top officials in the Southern District of New York on Monday, challenging "the government's shocking overreach in seeking to deport a college student... who is a lawful permanent resident of this country, because of her protected speech."
The 21-year-old, who moved from South Korea to the United States with her family at age 7, participated in some student protests on Columbia's campus "related to Israel's military campaign in Gaza and the devastating toll it has taken on Palestinian civilians," states the complaint. "Chung has not made public statements to the press or otherwise assumed a high-profile role in these protests. She was, rather, one of a large group of college students raising, expressing, and discussing shared concerns."
Earlier this month, she was arrested by the New York Police Department at a student sit-in "to protest what she believed to be the excessive punishments meted out by the Columbia administration to student protesters facing campus disciplinary proceedings," the document details. "Mere days later... the federal government began a series of unlawful efforts to arrest, detain, and remove Ms. Chung from the country because of her protected speech."
The suit asserts that Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) "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," specifically, "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."
Professors at other U.S. universities called the Trump administration's targeting of Chung " frightening" and "absolutely chilling to free speech."
In addition to Trump, Chung is suing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, and William Joyce, head of ICE's field office in New York. Her lawyers are seeking a temporary restraining order "barring the government from detaining her based on her protected speech and in the absence of independent, legitimate grounds."
Naz Ahmad, one of Chung's lawyers and co-director of Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR), toldThe New York Times that the Trump administration's "efforts to punish and suppress speech it disagrees with smack of McCarthyism."
"Like many thousands of students nationwide, Yunseo raised her voice against what is happening in Gaza and in support of fellow students facing unfair discipline," Ahmad added. "It can't be the case that a straight-A student who has lived here most of her life can be whisked away and potentially deported, all because she dares to speak up."
The newspaper noted how Chung's case resembles that of Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident arrested earlier this month after helping lead protests at Columbia, where he finished graduate studies last year:
On March 10, Perry Carbone, a high-ranking lawyer in the federal prosecutor's office, told Ms. Ahmad, Ms. Chung's attorney, that the secretary of state, Mr. Rubio, had revoked Ms. Chung's visa. Ms. Ahmad responded that Ms. Chung was not in the country on a visa and was a permanent resident. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Carbone responded that Mr. Rubio had "revoked that" as well.
The conversation echoed an exchange between Mr. Khalil's lawyers and the immigration agents who arrested him and who did not initially appear to be aware of his residency status.
After his arrest, Mr. Khalil was swiftly transferred, first to New Jersey and ultimately to Louisiana, where he has been detained since. The statute that the Trump administration used to justify his detention and Ms. Chung's potential deportation says that the secretary of state can move against noncitizens whose presence he has reasonable grounds to believe threatens the country's foreign policy agenda. Homeland security officials have since added other allegations against Mr. Khalil.
Chung and Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, aren't the only critics of Israel's assault on Gaza targeted by the administration. As Common Dreamsreported last week, masked immigration authorities "abducted"Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow on a student visa. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said Rubio determined Suri's "activities and presence" in the United States "rendered him deportable."
Chung's complaint points to the cases of Khalil, Suri, Columbia graduate student Ranjani Srinivasan, Leqaa Kordia, and Cornell University doctoral student Momodou Taal. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee earlier this month sued the president, Noem, and DHS on behalf of Taal, Cornell doctoral student Sriram Parasurama, and professor Mukoma Wa Ngũgĩ over "the Trump administration's unconstitutional campaign against free speech."
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