Cornell University is reneging connected its promise to thief 2 postgraduate students debar migration detention by threatening to trim their backing if they don’t return to the United States, wherever the Trump management has targeted them for imaginable deportation complete their information successful a pro-Palestine protest.
The Ivy League assemblage had antecedently told Momodou Taal and Amandla Thomas-Johnson that they could decorativeness their degrees pinch backing abroad, according to some Taal and Cornell’s postgraduate student union. After the Trump management began to prosecute some students successful March 2025, Taal and Thomas-Johnson fled to Cairo and planned to complete their studies there. Taal’s lawyer said the students are not judge if there’s a deportation bid against them, but Homeland Security Investigations, the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement intelligence division, has launched inquiries concerning some of them, and Taal was ordered to look astatine an ICE agency past year. The students judge they would apt beryllium detained by migration authorities upon return to the U.S.
Now, the schoolhouse says the 2 students must thatch connected field successful Ithaca, New York, this autumn aliases suffer their funding.
“Either they knew I can’t travel back, which is astir apt astir likely, aliases they really want maine to travel backmost and get arrested connected arrival,” Taal told The Intercept successful an interview. “Because of my Palestine activism, I’ve been treated moreover otherwise than group who are successful akin circumstances.”
The schoolhouse has antecedently worked pinch different students experiencing visa issues to proceed their studies overseas pinch funding, noted Taal and Ewa Nizalowska, president of the Cornell postgraduate student union.
Cornell declined to remark connected Taal and Thomas-Johnson’s cases, but successful a written connection to The Intercept, a spokesperson called the thought that the assemblage was targeting students for protestation activity “untrue and unfounded.” The spokesperson added that “Cornell University remains profoundly committed to helping world students proceed making world advancement erstwhile they brushwood visa aliases travel-related challenges.”
The Cornell backing is the sole root of financial support for Taal and Thomas-Johnson, they told The Intercept. Losing it would wounded their expertise to salary for housing, food, healthcare, and different surviving expenses.
“I person nary money. … I’m wherever I americium because the costs of surviving is cheaper,” Thomas-Johnson said. “I spell done day-to-day worry — really tin I beryllium expected to decorativeness a Ph.D.?”
“If I don’t get funding, I’m going to beryllium homeless,” Taal said. “I’m not going to beryllium capable to make rent.”
The Cornell spokesperson added that the students extracurricular the U.S. tin use for fellowships for funding, but those opportunities for the coming semester were closed months ago, Taal said.
“If I don’t get funding, I’m going to beryllium homeless.”
“Cornell knows afloat good that Momodou would beryllium instantly detained and sent to 1 of the places wherever much group are dying than ever before, facing each sorts of abuse, simply for his speech,” said Eric Lee, a civilian authorities lawyer representing Taal. “For the assemblage to declare that they’re offering thing adjacent is simply a level of cynicism which tin only beryllium deliberate by an institution pinch the acquisition of Cornell.”
In March 2025, Taal, a British and Gambian dual citizen, and Thomas-Johnson, besides a British citizen, fled the state amid a rash of deportation cases successful which the Trump management was targeting world student activists who had been progressive successful field protests against Israel’s genocide and apartheid of Palestinians. They were trying to debar the curen fixed to high-profile figures for illustration Columbia University students Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Madhawi.
Taal and Thomas-Johsnon had taken portion successful a September 2024 protestation that unopen down a Cornell occupation adjacent wherever weapons manufacturers Boeing and L3Harris, which proviso weapons to Israel, had booths. The brace of students were suspended for the incident and banned from field pinch threat of imaginable expulsion, which would person exposed them to deportation.
After Trump took agency successful early 2025, Taal sued the management complete its executive bid targeting pro-Palestine world students, arguing it denied activists’ First Amendment rights. Days later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered Taal to surrender to authorities, and agents appeared astatine his student lodging apartment. After a national judge declined to artifact Taal’s deportation, Taal decided to time off the U.S. connected his ain to debar ICE detention accommodation known for their brutal surviving conditions. Thomas-Johnson followed suit, fleeing to Canada, past Switzerland, Senegal, and Ghana, earlier yet joining Taal successful Cairo.
The Intercept’s reporting later revealed that starring up to their departures from the U.S., Google had secretly handed ICE agents the students’ Gmail relationship information and complied pinch a national lawsuit demanding their bank and in installments paper numbers.
“Given Cornell’s very affirmative narration pinch the Trump administration, and its willingness to make each sorts of concessions to the onslaught connected acquisition institutions, the mobility should beryllium posed to them, whether specified an statement has been made astir Momodou,” Lee said, referring to Taal’s backing options.
Last November, Cornell inked a woody pinch the management to springiness the authorities $60 million and capitulate to the government’s inquiries into diverseness initiatives and antisemitism successful speech for restoration of national backing to the school.
More recently, the Cornell section of a pro-Israel alumni group called Alums for Campus Fairness began circulating a mailer praising assemblage President Michael Kotlikoff for taking “action to support Jewish students” and “meaningful action to reside field disruptions.” The mailer, reviewed by The Intercept, did not sanction Taal aliases Thomas-Johnson, but indirectly applauded “banning a starring agitator from returning to campus.” The Intercept recovered past twelvemonth that a akin pro-Israel alumni group astatine Columbia had coordinated to apprehension and deport pro-Palestine student protesters.
On June 10, Cornell’s postgraduate schoolhouse management sent Taal a missive astir his backing options for the upcoming schoolhouse year. According to the letter, reviewed by The Intercept, Taal could either return to field and judge a school adjunct position, use to beryllium successful absentia and activity outer backing for illustration a fellowship, forfeit backing and salary tuition connected his own, aliases return a time off of absence.
“Our section backing sources are constricted to school assistantships,” the missive reads. “This requires you to beryllium connected field successful Ithaca, NY to assistance pinch classes. The College of Arts and Sciences restricts classes to being taught successful personification and connected campus. Online courses are not permitted.”
Taal said he was readying to decorativeness his dissertation by outpouring 2027. He received his astir caller stipend from the schoolhouse successful May, and nether normal backing circumstances, he would person gotten different stipend this month.
Taal’s 2022 acceptance missive to Cornell, reviewed by The Intercept, shows yearly backing of $67,000 would beryllium guaranteed for the first 5 years of his program. Taal is successful the 5th twelvemonth of his programme successful the Africana Studies department. Emails pinch his section from March, besides reviewed by The Intercept, showed discussions astir committing to “future funding.”
Cornell extended a akin connection to Thomas-Johnson, who is successful his sixth twelvemonth of the program: He could proceed to person backing by school respective courses successful his section of Literatures successful English, besides connected campus. He said he had antecedently taught a freshman penning seminar via Zoom earlier during his programme owed to unrelated visa issues, and some students questioned why the assemblage could not accommodate the same. Even aft he further explained his migration business and threat of returning to the U.S., he said the assemblage doubled down connected the in-person requirement.
Thomas-Johnson and Taal some said their departments and module person been accommodating and supportive astir their situations and suggested the backing determination apt came from the assemblage administration.
The postgraduate student national revenge grievances alleging the offers breach their collective bargaining agreement pinch the university. At a meeting, Cornell administrators told the national the assemblage did not person the responsibility to money world students who are facing visa issues, Nizalowska said.
The argumentation was a “clear reversal,” Nizalowska told The Intercept. Last year, she said a Cornell administrator told the national that individual arrangements were being made to guarantee that postgraduate students pinch visa issues aliases trouble returning to the U.S. could complete their degrees remotely pinch continued backing from the school.
“We cognize that it’s nary coincidence that Momodou and Amandla are the first 2 grads to beryllium impacted by this argumentation change, arsenic 2 grads who dared to speak retired against Cornell’s complicity successful the genocide successful Palestine, arsenic further exemplified by Cornell’s woody pinch Trump,” she said. “But we cognize that galore much grads will beryllium impacted by Cornell’s refusal to money grads who are stuck abroad, whether aliases not they person been progressive successful protests against the genocide successful Palestine.”
The Cornell spokesperson denied that it was successful usurpation of immoderate argumentation aliases had engaged successful governmental targeting. “Cornell’s attack to postgraduate student backing is longstanding, and location has been nary alteration in, aliases deviation from, assemblage policy,” the spokesperson wrote. “Graduate backing decisions are unrelated to [protest] activity aliases to the November 2025 statement betwixt Cornell and the national government.”
Taal has considered returning to Gambia, wherever he has family, but he said unstable net and energy entree would make his investigation difficult. He and Thomas-Johnson person their reservations astir relocating to Britain, wherever some person relatives, because of that government’s similar targeting of pro-Palestine activists.
Earlier this year, Taal reported being detained by British authorities for six hours upon landing astatine London’s Heathrow airport. While he was successful custody, officers confiscated his telephone and laptop, took his DNA, and questioned him astir “the mosque I attended increasing up, the Islamic teachers I followed,” and astir whether he had publication Karl Marx.
The detention came days aft United Nations Special Rapporteurs appointed by the UN’s Human Rights Council wrote a letter to Cornell President Kotlikoff, informing him of “serious interest complete the reported quality authorities violations against Mr. Taal and Mr. Thomas-Johnson” complete the school’s handling of their disciplinary cases related to the 2024 protest.
“They’re trying to proceed making an illustration retired of maine and Momodou for our governmental choices,” Thomas-Johnson said. “It’s easy for them to sideline america for what we guidelines for and who we are.”
Correction: August 14, 2026, 11:17 a.m. ET
This communicative has been updated to explain which student taught a Zoom people from overseas owed to erstwhile visa issues; it was Thomas-Johnson, not Taal.
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