“I came to study in the US, as oftentimes there is an understanding that what happens in the US becomes a global conversation,” he told us. “As someone interested in topics surrounding race, I wanted to get the US perspective firsthand whilst being able to contribute to that conversation.”

Momodou Taal
Momodou Taal speaks with us in November 2023. 
us

But after taking part in protests of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, he was suspended, threatening his visa and his right to stay in the US to study — a scenario that some believe could become more common during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.

Trump railed against the student protests on the 2024 campaign trail, and the Republican National Convention’s platform pledged to “Deport Pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again,” inciting uncertainty about the future among international students. While Trump has also suggested that international students who graduate from US institutions be given green cards, his plans have focused far more on removing undocumented immigrants than welcoming new Americans.


Taal, who was born in The Gambia, was one of thousands of students who demonstrated in support of Palestinian civilians after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel sent its troops into Gaza to eradicate Hamas. As protests took over dozens of campuses across the nation last fall, he told us that the movement he belongs to was anti-racist and that he abhorred the killings of civilians on all sides.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators walk from Columbia University down to Hunter College as protests at area universities and colleges continue on May 6, in New York City.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators walk from Columbia University down to Hunter College as protests at area universities and colleges continue on May 6, in New York City. 
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

But to Cornell, he and other students went too far. In April, then Cornell President Martha E. Pollack wrote a letter to her community bemoaning the protests for breaking college rules, being loud enough to be heard in classrooms and “diverting substantial public safety and student life staff and resources from other important matters.”


Taal was suspended first for his role in a pro-Palestinian encampment and later for disrupting a careers fair attended by defense contractors, according to the independent campus newspaper The Cornell Daily Sun.

With the second suspension, Taal’s visa became invalid, and  he was advised in a letter by Cornell administration to leave the US as soon as possible.

International students across the country may face this same dilemma — they want to speak up for their beliefs, but if they cross their college, they may lose not only their place but their right to study in the US. And the pressure may be ramped up with the incoming Trump administrationccc