Cornell student who praised Oct. 7 told to surrender to US immigration authorities

A pro-Palestinian activist at Cornell University has been ordered to report to immigration authorities, in a sign that the Trump administration is planning to deport him.

Momodou Taal, a Gambian-British national who was briefly suspended from Cornell over his anti-Israel activism, had preemptively sued to block any effort to deport him, saying that the administration was penalizing protected speech in its mass crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters.

He has come under particular fire a tweet posted the day of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attack that said “glory to the resistance!” In another X post two days later, Taal further expressed support for the atrocities, declaring himself to be “an anti-imperialist who believes that colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary.”

Now, his lawyers have filed for a restraining order against the government, saying he has been told to “surrender to ICE custody” at a Department of Homeland Security office in Syracuse, New York, about 50 miles north of Cornell. Taal’s supporters have demonstrated on campus this week after observing what they believed to be law enforcement outside his home.

Taal’s lawsuit cited advocacy against him by the militant pro-Israel group Betar US, which says it has submitted names of protesters eligible for deportation to the government.

“Betar confirms that @MomodouTaal was among those on our list of jihadis which we submitted to various government offices for deportation,” the group tweeted on Friday. “We are pleased he has been ordered to surrender to @ICEgov.“

Betar is happy that Momodou Taal has had his visa revoked. This is an evil jihadi who is an enemy to America and the Jewish people. He was among those on our list of people who must be deported. Many more jihadis to go! https://t.co/BgfVBdixeF pic.twitter.com/oKwlfILu0G

— Betar Worldwide (@Betar_USA) March 21, 2025

Using the formulation “Shalom Momodou,” reflecting a recent Trump administration catchphrase intended to be threatening, the group said it urged more deportations, including of “jihadis who have [become] naturalized citizens.”

The group also said it had “reason to believe” that two other pro-Palestinian activists it has lobbied against — Mohsen Madawi, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia, and Mosab Abu Toha, a poet who is working at Syracuse University after fleeing Gaza in late 2023 — are “on the short list of those who will shortly be deported.”

It is unclear how much the group’s advocacy has set priorities for the Trump administration as it carries out its vow to deport “Hamas sympathizers” on college campuses. But Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader who is facing deportation despite holding a green card, faced criticism from the group shortly before he was arrested earlier this month.