UK Student Momodou Taal Exits US Amid Crackdown on Foreign Pro-Palestinian Protesters
Momodou Taal, a UK-Gambia dual citizen and graduate student at Cornell University, has voluntarily left the United States after his visa was revoked for participating in campus protests against Israel.
Taal announced his departure on social media platform X, saying he left “free and with my head held high” after a US judge denied his appeal to delay deportation. His exit comes amid a Trump administration initiative to deport international students who have voiced support for Palestine during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
“I have lost faith I could walk the streets without being abducted,” Taal wrote. “Weighing up these options, I took the decision to leave on my own terms.”
Taal had been suspended twice by Cornell due to protest activity. On the day of Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, he reportedly posted, “Glory to the Resistance,” and later publicly expressed solidarity with Palestinian armed resistance, according to The Cornell Daily Sun.
At least 300 international students have had their visas revoked, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The Trump administration argues that the Immigration and Nationality Act permits the removal of individuals considered hostile to US foreign policy or national security.
Critics say the move is a dangerous infringement on free speech and academic freedom. Another student, Indian scholar Ranjani Srinivasan, also left the US under similar pressure, telling CNN: “I’m literally just a random student… not a terrorist sympathizer.”
The deportations are part of an executive order introduced by Trump in January to target what his administration describes as antisemitic activity on college campuses.
As international students weigh their futures, civil liberties groups warn of a growing climate of fear for those voicing dissent against US-aligned foreign policies.
