The Justice Department on Friday asked Cornell University students suing for the Trump administration after helping immigration officials surrender last year's campus protests, according to a new court filing.
The student, a lawyer for Momodou Taal, a doctoral visa holder and a dual citizen of the UK and Gambia, said in court documents that he had notified him that the Justice Department's lawyers had the first notice that the government intended to serve him with a notice of appearance to him.
The email did not specify when the Justice Department would expect Tar to surrender to immigration authorities.
Eric Lee, one of Tar's lawyers, told NBC News on Saturday that unidentified authorities had appeared outside the Tar's student apartment building just days before the email was sent, and began asking other residents about him. The building staff then asked authorities to leave, Lee said.
“The basis for claiming that the government is claiming it exists here is not yet clear,” Lee said in a court application Friday that Tar lives in the United States and has been recognized by the state on multiple occasions.
“The only change between Mr. Tar's final entrance and now the initiation of this legal action is the initiation of this legal action that challenges them,” the court filed. “It is clear that the government's efforts to serve and detain Mr. Tar are responding to this lawsuit.”
Lee asked NBC News to explain the action by the Department of Justice by 5pm on Saturday.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comments or questions about which agencies searched for tar at home.
Cornell University did not immediately respond to NBC News' requests for comment. The Department of Homeland Security also did not respond.
Last weekend, Tar and two U.S. citizens challenged the Trump administration's executive order to “fight against anti-Semitism” on university campuses, banishing foreigners who the administration says poses a national security threat.
Thar, 31, and other plaintiffs argued that the order violated the free speech rights of international students and scholars to protest or express support for Palestinians in Gaza.
The Taal incident came amid the broader efforts of the Trump administration to exercise leverage in the operations of private institutions of higher education.
Earlier this month, the administration surprised many observers when it arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University who led similar protests at schools last year. Halil is fighting his deportation while in detention in Louisiana. Lee said Khalil's arrest raised Tar's concerns about being arrested by immigration authorities and prompted a lawsuit.
The Trump administration cited the obscure national security clause in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Halil's arrest. Under this provision, the Secretary of State allows the Secretary of State to deport non-citizens if they determine that their presence in the United States could have a negative impact on foreign policy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month at X that he would cancel non-citizen visas and green cards that the department claims in favor of Hamas.
The immigration officer arrested Lequa Cordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, a second Colombian student. Colombia's third student, National Ranjanis Rinivasan, fled to Canada after his student visa was revoked. Srinivasan claims he did not take part in the campus protest last spring.
The doctors and professors at Brown University were deported this month after attempting to return to the United States from a trip to Lebanon. Homeland Security authorities said Monday that the professor told them he attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrala, the murdered leader of Iranian Buck Hezbollah.
Recently, a graduate student who taught on a student visa at Georgetown University has been detained this week.
The Trump administration also chased the university itself in retaliation for protests on campus last year.
On March 7, the administration announced it was stripping Colombia, a $400 million federal grant, which is the epicenter of the protest. This week, the White House said in a statement it has suspended $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania as it allowed transgender swimmers to compete in women's teams.
To begin negotiations on a recovery of federal funds, Columbia agreed to a request outlined by the Trump administration on Friday.
The university now bans wearing masks in protests, changing the admissions process and hiring 36 new campus security officers in most cases.
The move has prompted several new protests and raised concerns nationwide about federal violations over free speech. Some Colombian students and professors told NBC News in recent weeks that they fear that if they speak up, the government will come after them.
The protests are scheduled to resume in Colombia on Monday.
Clarification (March 22, 2025, 5:10pm): Previous versions of this article misinterpreted some of the emails Taal received. It informed him of the government's intention to provide notifications that appear, but not in itself a notice.
