The Department of Justice is requesting that pro-Palestinian activist and international graduate student Momodou Taal surrender himself into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to an email sent to Taal’s council on Friday morning.
The email came hours after lawyers representing Taal attempted to preemptively block his arrest or detainment by requesting a temporary restraining order in federal court following the reported presence of unidentified law enforcement outside Taal’s residence, according to affidavits attained by The Sun. The court has not yet made a decision on whether to accept the temporary restraining order or if it applies to Friday’s DOJ email.
Taal has been involved in an ongoing lawsuit against the federal government since March 15, claiming that the enforcement of two national security-related executive orders passed by President Donald Trump violated his First and Fifth Amendment rights.
After two eyewitnesses reported unknown law enforcement parked outside Taal’s residence on Thursday, his attorneys filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order to attempt to preemptively prohibit Taal’s arrest or deportation on the basis of his involvement in the ongoing lawsuit.
Taal’s attorneys submitted the DOJ’s email and requested that the court consider it in relation to Thursday’s motion for a temporary restraining order in a Friday letter to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
In the letter, Taal’s lead counsel Eric Lee, and ADC legal director and co-counsel Christopher Godshall-Bennett questioned the legality of ICE’s request for Taal’s detainment amid the ongoing March 15 lawsuit.
“[Taal’s detainment] would substantially impede counsel’s ability to directly communicate with Mr. Taal … and also constitutes an unlawful attempt to remove this Court’s jurisdiction over this case,” Lee and Godshall-Bennett’s letter stated.
Following the letter, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Coombe stated that the court “carefully reviewed” Thursday’s requested temporary restraining order and directed the federal government to determine whether “the Executive Orders challenged in [the lawsuit] are a basis for Mr. Taal's anticipated ‘surrender to [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] custody’” in the case docket.
Lee and Godshall-Bennett’s letter stated that they and Taal would comply with ICE, “should the courts so instruct.”
The federal government has until 5 p.m. on Saturday to respond to Coombe’s order.
