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NY judge orders Trump administration not to arrest or relocate Columbia student protester
By
Samantha Max
Published Jun 5, 2025
Modified Jun 6, 2025
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Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images
By
Samantha Max
Published Jun 5, 2025
Modified Jun 6, 2025
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A federal judge is ordering the government not to arrest, detain or relocate a Columbia University student facing deportation for attending protests against the war in Gaza.
U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said at a hearing Thursday that Yunseo Chung should remain free while she pursues her case in Manhattan federal court. The judge said arresting Chung in the meantime would be “wholly unnecessary” and could cause “irreparable harm.”
Chung is a lawful permanent U.S. resident who emigrated from South Korea as a child, according to her attorneys. She was the valedictorian of her high school and has maintained a 3.99 grade point average every semester at Columbia, according to court papers. But two months ago, federal officials revoked her immigration status and searched her dorm. In court, Chung’s lawyers said she’s being targeted for exercising her First Amendment rights.
“She should be commended for standing up for the human rights and the dignity of Palestinians. But even if you happen to disagree with that standpoint, she certainly should not be subject to arrest for it,” her lawyer, Ramzi Kassem, said after the hearing.
Chung is one of several Columbia students facing the threat of deportation after participating in activism against the war between Israel and Hamas. But unlike Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, two high-profile leaders of the campus protest movement, Chung was a mere sideline figure in the protests, her lawyers argue. Her case highlights the widening scope of President Donald Trump’s administration’s attempts to target protesters and tamp down on speech that is critical of Israel.
Attorneys for the Trump administration asked the judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Chung, which claims the federal government is violating her constitutional rights. They said Chung’s arguments about the government violating her constitutional rights are not valid because immigration officials haven’t detained her, like they did in other students’ cases. In court papers, Justice Department attorneys have said Chung’s presence in the country could compromise U.S. foreign policy.
Buchwald denied the government’s request for dismissal in court on Thursday. She admonished the Trump administration’s lawyers throughout the hearing, which lasted about an hour, and at times raised her voice to express her frustration. When a Justice Department attorney disagreed with her interpretation of the law, she laughed and shook her head.
“This is a new world,” Buchwald said. “I’m taken aback, shall we say.”
The judge accused the Trump administration of making inconsistent statements in legal filings and in court about whether federal officials had tried to serve Chung with a notice to appear in court.
“I did not think there was total candor with the court,” Buchwald said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Waterman apologized for possibly misleading her.
Buchwald also criticized the federal government for not agreeing to a proposal she had suggested for the next step in the case, which she called a “win-win” for both sides. The proposal — which Chung’s attorneys have already agreed to — would let the Trump administration start removal proceedings against her but not arrest her. In a letter to the court on Wednesday, Waterman rejected the judge’s proposal.
“The answer is no,” he wrote.
Attorneys for the Trump administration asked the judge to dismiss Chung’s case — a request she denied in court on Thursday. They said her arguments about the government violating her constitutional rights are not valid because immigration officials haven’t detained her, like they did in other students’ cases.
Since the start of the war, Chung has protested with other students several times, according to court papers. Her attorneys said she hasn’t made statements to the press but was identified in a media report when she attended a sit-in outside a school building on March 5 of this year.
Chung went through university disciplinary proceedings after school officials accused her of vandalism, court papers state. They said she and other students violated policy by attaching posters to school buildings that had photos of board members with he words “Wanted for Complicity in Genocide.” But Columbia ultimately found she hadn’t broken any rules, according to her lawyers. The NYPD also arrested her at one demonstration and gave her a desk appearance ticket for obstruction of governmental administration. That case has since been dismissed.
The judge’s new order will prohibit the federal government from arresting Chung anywhere in the country, including at home in New York and when she visits her family out of state. Her lawyer said she has been “extremely resilient” and has kept up with her studies as well as a summer internship.
“ No one wants to be in removal proceedings, obviously, but, but we believe in our chances,” Kassem said.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the status of an obstruction of governmental administration charge against Yunseo Chung. That charge has been dismissed.
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education
immigration
new york city
public safety
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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