WASHINGTON: A Korean American Columbia University student, who is a legal permanent US resident and has participated in pro-Palestinian protests, sued the administration of President Donald Trump on Monday to prevent her deportation, a court filing showed. Yunseo Chung, 21, has lived in the US since she was seven, but her legal team was informed two weeks ago that her lawful permanent resident status was being revoked, according to the court filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The Trump administration says her US presence hinders its foreign policy agenda, according to the lawsuit. Chung has not yet been arrested. Immigration agents have made multiple visits to her residences looking for her. Trump has pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters and accused them of supporting Hamas, of posing hurdles for US foreign policy and of being “antisemitic”.

Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the administration wrongly conflates their criticism of the Zionist entity and support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas. Human rights advocates have condemned the government’s moves. Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested this month and is legally challenging his detention, is also a lawful permanent resident. Trump, without evidence, accused Khalil of supporting Hamas, which Khalil denies.

Actions against Chung “form part of a larger pattern of attempted US government repression of constitutionally protected protest activity and other forms of speech,” Monday’s lawsuit said. “The government’s repression has focused specifically on university students who speak out in solidarity with Palestinians and who are critical of the (Zionist) government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.”

A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security alleged Chung has engaged in concerning conduct, including when she was arrested by police during a protest at Barnard College that DHS termed “pro-Hamas”. The spokesperson did not elaborate further on the specifics of that conduct in question but said she was “sought for removal proceedings under the immigration laws” and will have a chance to present her case before an immigration judge.

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian studying at Georgetown University, was detained last week. A federal judge barred Suri’s deportation. US officials on Friday asked Cornell University student Momodou Taal to turn himself in, Taal’s attorneys said, adding his visa was being revoked.

Meanwhile, organizers and supporters of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University were sued on Monday in Manhattan federal court for allegedly functioning as Hamas’ “propaganda arm” and “in-house public relations firm” in New York City and on campus. The lawsuit was filed by nine US and Zionist citizens and two affiliated with Columbia who reported mistreatment there.

They accused the defendants of having since 2023 coordinated their efforts with Hamas, which the US State Department deems a terrorist group, to further its attacks, and said some defendants “on information and belief” had advance knowledge of the attack. The defendants include Khalil, who helped lead the Columbia demonstrations and was a negotiator between university administrators and the student group coalition and co-defendant Columbia University Apartheid Divest.

Other defendants include Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace, and some of their leaders. “It would be illegal for Hamas to directly retain a public relations firm in the United States or hire enforcers to impose their will on American cities,” the complaint said. “Yet those are precisely the services that the [defendant groups] knowingly provide to Hamas.”

Mark Goldfeder, a lawyer at the National Jewish Advocacy Center representing the plaintiffs, in an email said the defendants’ coordinating activities with Hamas was known because they have said so repeatedly. “There is nothing wrong with being pro-Palestinian, and pro-Hamas speech is still protected speech in most contexts,” he said. “The issue here is the material support of and coordination with a designated foreign terrorist organization.”

The civil lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating US antiterrorism law and the law of nations, and seeks unspecified compensatory, punitive and triple damages. It was filed three days after Columbia agreed to change its policies toward protesters and security, and begin a review of academic Middle East programs at various departments. The changes were part of an effort to restore $400 million of federal funding that Trump pulled over allegations that Columbia tolerated “antisemitism”. – Reuters