Recently released court documents reveal an unjust move from the Trump administration, where they unlawfully targeted students of Columbia University for potential deportation. Among these was an ICE agent who presented an affidavit riddled with inaccuracies to a federal magistrate in order to secure a search warrant. The affidavit, as seen in the unsealed records, was full of misconstructions about federal law and basic data, but still, it was authorized by the judge. This enabled ICE to comb through the dormitory rooms of two students, predicated on the belief that the university was protecting these students against federal law.
This search was instigated by the revocation of one student’s visa and a green card for another by the State Department, indicating to ICE that these students were residing in the U.S. illegally. However, neither ICE nor the State Department possesses the power to establish the legality of an individual’s presence in the U.S. The judgement of whether a person is residing in the U.S. unlawfully requires the order from an immigration judge. Furthermore, no substantial evidence was provided by ICE claiming that Columbia University was doing anything to shield these students, other than refusing to grant the agency access to the campus for arrest without judicial warrants.
The affidavit was unveiled as part of a lawsuit filed by Yunseo Chung, a Columbia University student who holds a valid green card. The Trump administration is striving to annul this green card – a discriminatory action under question since it was prompted by Chung’s attendance at a campus protest in support of Gaza. Interestingly, it was Secretary of State Marco Rubio who, on March 7, resorted to an ambiguous legal clause that he has wielded against other students expressing criticism towards Israel. According to Rubio’s interpretation, Chung’s residence in the U.S. posed ‘serious adverse foreign policy consequences’.
Chung, a South Korean native who has lived the majority of her life in the U.S., was only seven when she moved to America. She has claimed that such action against her infringes on her First Amendment and due process rights, and that the warrant to search her dorm room was secured under dubious circumstances. Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at City University of New York and co-director of CLEAR (a legal nonprofit clinic defending Chung), voices that the affidavit confirms ICE’s main goal was to capture and arrest Yunseo, a lawful resident whose only known ‘crime’ was participating in a protest concerning Palestinian human rights.
The minor charges relating to the protest, which ICE has referenced in their affidavit, have since been dropped. The unsealed records affirm that ICE’s sole legal backing for their actions was the federal anti-harboring statute. This was their solitary assertion to provide probable cause for a federal crime, alleging Columbia University’s role in ‘concealing, harboring, or shielding from detection removable aliens’.
Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, a lawyer from Human Rights First and Chung’s representative, stated, ‘The government supposedly cancelled Yunseo’s green card unlawfully and in secrecy, then convinced a judge they needed to search her domicile for evidence of Columbia University’s purported ‘harboring’. In essence, they sought a legal cover to invade Yunseo’s apartment and unlawfully detain her’.
In his sworn affidavit from March 13, George Ioannidis, an assistant special agent of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations in New York, expected results from the searches to illustrate that Columbia was ‘sheltering’ Chung and another student, Ranjani Srinivasan. However, Srinivasan had already left the U.S. by the time this warrant was requested. The sheer irony of the situation is captured by Nathan Yaffe, who represents both Chung and Srinivasan. He reported to The Intercept, ‘It’s clear that Columbia couldn’t be shielding someone who wasn’t even in the country anymore’.
More to the point, for the anti-harboring statute to stand, two conditions must be fulfilled: the sheltered individual must be residing illegally in the country, and the harboring entity should be actively protecting this individual from authorities. ICE’s claim that revocation of Srinivasan’s student visa deemed her unlawful in the country, indisputably erroneous. Only an immigration judge can make that decision, given the person has been legally admitted into the U.S.
Furthermore, the claim that revocation of a visa immediately alters the individual’s lawful status to illegal is a clear misrepresentation of facts portrayed by ICE to the court. In fact, until an immigration judge orders removal, Yunseo Chung is entirely lawfully resident as a permanent resident. Emphasizing this, attorney Nathan Yaffe said, ‘If a person has legal status in the US, it’s impossible to harbor them. ICE’s affidavit confirmed that Ms. Chung is a permanent resident – someone legally residing here. Hence, there’s no bona fide reason for ICE to even seek a warrant under harboring allegations’.
Columbia University’s refusal to comply became the sole grounds for Ioannidis to claim ‘probable cause’ for university’s act of ‘harboring’. Jamal Greene, Columbia Law School professor, highlighted that ‘Refusing to comply with an administrative warrant to conduct a search of one’s private property is not a criminal offense. The law doesn’t mandate compliance with an administrative warrant nor does it imply any repercussions for non-compliance. Penalties can only be issued if a federal court orders compliance and yet the subject declines to comply’.
Post unsealing, the community reacted with shock and anxiety towards how Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger could approve such a fragile application for search warrant. In the start of April, Chung requested the district court judge overseeing her lawsuit to reveal the contents of the search warrant. Then, on May 5, District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ordered the commencement of the unsealing process.
Speaking about the document, Nathan Yaffe said, ‘The warrant support affidavit stands as another illustration of how the administration is prioritizing their political repression over legality and facts’. Yaffe remains confident that the more they reveal about the government’s unethical tactics, the more Chung’s legal pleas will find validation.
Unlike several others caught in the immigration crossfire due to their association with Gaza protests, Chung has managed to avoid detainment. Pivotal to this is an order issued in March by Judge Buchwald, which prohibits the Trump administration from arresting her. Oral arguments concerning Chung’s case are scheduled for May 29.
The post Trump Administration Allegedly Targets Columbia Students Unlawfully for Deportation appeared first on Real News Now.
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