A Cornell University student is facing deportation to the United Kingdom after administrators suspended him for taking part in a campus protest calling on Cornell to divest from companies that support Israel’s assault on Gaza. Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. student in Africana studies, says he was advised to leave the U.S. “promptly” after his academic suspension led Cornell’s immigration office to cancel his F-1 student visa. Democracy Now! spoke with Momodou Taal on Thursday.

Momodou Taal: “Yes, it’s about freedom of speech, but that cannot be divorced from Palestine. The issue why we’re facing such repression and such repressive tactics is because it’s about Palestine. It’s because you’re speaking anti-Israel and anti-Israel’s genocide in Gaza. These issues are not, like, separate. So, absolutely, I think I’m a visible person. I’m quite outspoken on this issue. And I think this is the reason why I’m being targeted.”