Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has condemned the Trump administration's attempt to deport Columbia University students who participated in the pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
“You can't exile political dissidents, you're not in the US,” Sanders wrote. Tuesday's post x.
His comments came hours after a federal judge ruled that 21-year-old legal permanent resident, Yoon Zeo Chung, could not be removed until the court had the opportunity to consider her arguments about the efforts more carefully.
US District Judge Naomi Reiss Buchold, former President Clinton's appointee, issued the order Tuesday.
“Trump is about to deport Columbia University. She is a permanent student in the United States since she was seven,” Sanders wrote of Chong.
“Her 'crime'? He attends protests against the war in Gaza. No, President. This is democracy. ”
Immigration and customs enforcement agencies were trying to detain Chong under State Department policies that allowed the removal of individuals “potentially resulting in severe and unfavorable foreign policy consequences.”
The Trump administration cited the same deportation measures to order Mahmoud Khalil to be detained.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously launched an elimination effort for Khalil, a former Colombian student known as a pro-Palestinian activist who staged protests against the Israeli-Hamas War in Gaza under section 237(a)(c)(i) of the Gaza Nationality Act (I) (INA).
Lawmakers argue that Halil is a “political prisoner,” but Chung's lawyers have said deportation actions against her are “unprecedented” and “unjustified.”
“The actions of the government are an unprecedented unjust attack on the First Amendment and other rights, which cannot withstand basic legal scrutiny,” Chung's lawyer wrote in court.
“Simply, immigration enforcement — here threatens immigration detention and threatening deportation — may not be used as a tool to punish non-citizen speakers expressing political views that are disgusting with the current administration,” they continued.
The Civil Rights Commission for the San Francisco Gulf Region, the City University of New York, clearly projects and human rights represent Chong first.
