Cornell student who praised Hamas told to surrender to ICE...or else | 21 March 2025 | A Cornell graduate student who praised Hamas's October 7 attacks and organized pro-Palestine protests has been ordered to surrender to ICE officials -- even though he hasn't broken any laws. Momodou Taal, a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and The Gambia, received the order shortly after asking a judge to bar the government from deporting him. A doctoral candidate in Africana Studies at the prestigious New York university, Taal had filed a lawsuit a week ago requesting a judge strike down two of President Trump's executive orders targeting foreign protesters at US campuses. Taal's attorneys reportedly then received an email from the Justice Department at 1am Friday inviting him "to appear in-person at the (Homeland Security Investigations) Office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the (Notice to Appear) and for Mr. Taal to surrender to ICE custody," reports CNN. A notice to appeal is one of the formal steps toward deportation; however, the email did not specify a deadline for the student to surrender to ICE.