You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

International Student Activist Momodou Taal Sues to Block Trump Orders Targeting Protesters

HeadlineMar 21, 2025

At Cornell University in New York state, outspoken international student activist Momodou Taal has filed a lawsuit along with two others, seeking to block Trump’s executive orders targeting Palestinian rights activists. The three Cornell plaintiffs argue they’ve been “unconstitutionally silenced.” Last year, Momodou Taal, a British and Gambian national, was twice suspended for his activism by Cornell, which moved to cancel his student visa but ultimately backed down. Taal says law enforcement agents started following him around after he filed his lawsuit earlier this week. Supporters at Cornell mobilized Thursday to demand “hands off Momodou!” Last month, Taal told Democracy Now! why he would never stop advocating for Palestinian rights.

Momodou Taal: “When we say Palestine is a litmus test, we’re saying that it is not that we privilege the Palestinian cause over every other cause, but rather Palestine holds a mirror up unto the world and says, 'What kind of world do we want to live in?'”

Click here to our full interview with Momodou Taal.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top