The case of Momodou Taal has emerged as a watershed in the escalating attacks on democratic rights. Taal, a British-Gambian graduate student at Cornell University, is the lead plaintiff in the first major legal challenge to Trump's executive orders targeting political opposition. Just days after filing the lawsuit, Taal was targeted for retaliatory deportation due to his opposition to the genocide in Gaza. Federal agents attempted to detain him, and the government has now formally demanded that he surrender to ICE custody.
The government openly admits that Taal was identified as part of its implementation of Trump's Executive Order 14188, which directs federal agencies to use immigration powers to target critics of Israel under the guise of combating "antisemitism."
If successful, the deportation of Taal would set a chilling precedent: that the president of the United States can imprison and expel individuals in retaliation for filing a lawsuit and engaging in protected political speech. His case is a test of whether democratic rights still exist in the US.
Taal's persecution is part of a broader campaign. The Trump administration has invoked the reactionary Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to carry out mass deportations, arrested Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, and openly defied court rulings.
The aim is to crush dissent, criminalize opposition to US and Israeli war crimes, and intimidate a population that is increasingly hostile to the oligarchy's agenda of war, repression, and austerity.
We urge all WSWS readers—students, workers, and youth—to attend this urgent online meeting. The defense of democratic rights cannot be left to the courts or the Democratic Party, which has paved the way for Trump's repressive policies. The working class must be mobilized as an independent political force to stop the drive toward dictatorship and the criminalization of opposition.
.png "Stop the attack on Momodou Taal! Thursday, Mar. 27, 3 PM EDT")
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