The lawsuit of Chung\u2019s, whose green card was revoked, asks: what limits remain on the Trump administration\u2019s power?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a matter of days, Yunseo Chung was sent into hiding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 5 March, Chung \u2013 a 21-year-old student at Columbia University \u2013 attended a sit-in to protest the expulsion of several students involved in pro-Palestinian activism at the famed New York<\/a> university. Four days later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents showed up at her parents\u2019 home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When they couldn\u2019t find her there, Ice sought help from federal prosecutors and searched her dormitory \u2013 using a warrant that cited a criminal law against \u201charboring noncitizens\u201d. They revoked her green card and accused her of posing a threat to US foreign policy interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Monday, Chung sued Donald Trump<\/a> and other high-ranking administrations to stop their targeting of her and other students. And on Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration<\/a> to halt its efforts to arrest and deport Chung, saying \u201cnothing in the record\u201d indicated that Chung posed a danger to the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter the constant dread in the back of my mind over the past few weeks, this decision feels like a million pounds off of my chest. I feel like I could fly,\u201d she shared in a statement to the Guardian after the ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her location remains undisclosed, and Chung herself has remained shielded \u2013 for her own protection \u2013 from the public. But she has nonetheless made a powerful statement, by raising a simple question: if the administration can arbitrarily and unilaterally threaten immigrants over political views they disagree with, if it can disregard the free speech rights of lawful permanent residents \u2013 what limits, if any, remain on its power?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOfficials at the highest echelons of government are attempting to use immigration enforcement as a bludgeon to suppress speech that they dislike, including Ms. Chung\u2019s speech,\u201d her lawyers write in the suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike some of the other students the administration has targeted for pro-Palestinian activism, including recent graduate Mahmoud Khalil<\/a>, who led protests on campus, and Cornell PhD student Momodou Taal, who delivered speeches at his university\u2019s pro-Palestinian encampment, Chung\u2019s involvement in the movement was low-profile. She didn\u2019t play an organizing or leading role in any of the protest efforts; she didn\u2019t speak to the media about her activism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe was, rather, one of a large group of college students raising, expressing, and discussing shared concerns,\u201d her lawyers write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chung moved to the US from South Korea when she was seven, and has lived in the country ever since. She was a valedictorian in high school; at Columbia, she had contributed to a literary magazine and an undergraduate law journal. She has maintained a 3.99 GPA and interned with a number of legal non-profits including the Innocence Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last spring, Chung was one of hundreds of students and other activists who set up the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the university campus, and hundreds of others visited the space to attend speeches, community events and protests. As the university began meting out disciplinary actions against protesters, hundreds of students and faculty also joined in a walkout in solidarity with student activists, demanding amnesty to student protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May last year, Chung and other students faced disciplinary proceedings for posting flyers on school campus \u2013 but the university ultimately found that Chung had not violated policies, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After that, Chung continued her studies, and it wasn\u2019t until earlier this month that she came onto immigration officials\u2019 radar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n