Momodou Taal, a pro-Palestine university student whose visa was revoked over his activism has announced he would leave the United States voluntarily instead of being deported.
Taal has been in hiding after police sought his detention as he filed a lawsuit against the Trump-led administration over free speech.
Taal is among over 300 students whose visas were withdrawn by the US over on-campus protests against Israel since the current crisis in Gaza began in 2023.
He said he was leaving the United States with his ”head held high”.
Taal, a Cornell University graduate student who is of British-Gambian citizenship had lost a legal battle to stop his deportation.
He posted on X: “Given what we have seen across the United States, I have lost faith that a favourable ruling from the courts would guarantee my personal safety and ability to express my beliefs. I have lost faith I could walk the streets without being abducted. Weighing up these options. I took the decision to leave on my own terms.”
Cornell University, a top tier school in upstate New York had suspended Mr Taal twice over his activism on campus against Israel since the April 2023 attack by Hamas.
Taal had posted “Glory to the Resistance” on X while expressing unreserved solidarity with those fighting to liberate Palestine ”from the river to the sea”.
A US Immigration and Nationality Act gives the State Department powers to deport non-American citizens whose stance “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests”.
WN/as/APA