Cornell to Pro-Palestine Students Targeted by ICE: Come Back to the U.S. or Lose Funding
Momodou Taal and Amandla Thomas-Johnson were finishing their graduate degrees abroad because of targeting by the Trump administration. Cornell is ordering them back to campus. The post Cornell to Pro-Palestine Students Targeted by ICE: Come Back to the U.S. or Lose Funding appeared first on The Intercept .
Two Cornell graduate students, Momodou Taal and Amandla Thomas-Johnson, are confronting deportation threats from the Trump administration over their pro-Palestine activism. The university had pledged to help them avoid detention by providing funding abroad. However, after the administration began pursuing them in March 2025, Taal and Thomas-Johnson fled to Cairo to continue their studies.
Now, Cornell is demanding that they return to campus in Ithaca to teach this fall or forfeit their funding. The school declined to comment on the students' specific cases, but stated that they remain committed to supporting international students facing visa issues. Losing the university's funding would leave Taal and Thomas-Johnson without the means to pay for housing, food, healthcare, and other expenses.
Taal's attorney claims there is no deportation order but that ICE has launched investigations against the students. One of them was even ordered to appear at an ICE office last year. Taal and Thomas-Johnson argue that the university's offer of funding in the U.S. is a form of coercion, as they fear immediate detention and abuse upon return.
Cornell's funding is their sole source of financial support, and they fear homelessness if they lose it. The university's decision has been criticized as cynical and unfair, given its close ties to the Trump administration and its concessions to the administration's inquiries.
Written by urgent.news from The Intercept's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
