FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 4, 2025

MEDIA CONTACTS:

CLEAR: cunyclear@law.cuny.edu 

Human Rights First: Press@HumanRightsFirst.org 

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area: Raya Steier, rsteier@lccrsf.org, c:530-723-2426 

Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP: Redmond Haskins, redmondhaskins86@gmail.com c: 929-441-2384 

***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR THURSDAY, JUNE 5*** 

NEW YORK – On Thursday, June 5, at 1:45 PM, attorneys for Yunseo Chung, a Columbia student and permanent legal resident, will return to court to seek continued protection from arrest and detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), arguing that such actions would violate her constitutional rights to free speech and due process. 

At a hearing last week, Judge Naomi Buchwald challenged the government’s justification for detention, pointing to the traumatic and unjustifiable harm it would cause. The court’s protective order prohibiting ICE from arresting Ms. Chung remains in effect. 

Ms. Chung’s legal team believes that the government’s push for detention has no legal basis and is not rooted in law or necessity.  It is simply a punitive attempt to isolate her from her family and legal counsel by transferring her to a remote detention facility. There is no legal or moral justification for detaining Ms. Chung, a lawful permanent resident with no criminal record and a strong academic standing.  

The government has argued that it has the authority to imprison Ms. Chung solely for participating in protests critical of Israel’s war on Gaza — an outrageous attack on constitutionally protected speech and due process. Thursday’s hearing follows a March ruling in which the court found no legitimate basis for her arrest and granted her temporary protection from ICE detention while her constitutional claims are reviewed. 

WHEN: Thursday, June 5, 2025, at 1:45 PM 
 
WHERE: Courtroom 21A, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007 

WHO: Lawyers will speak to the press in front of the Thurgood Marshall Building, 40 Foley Square, after the hearing is over.  

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