CLEAR: cunyclear@law.cuny.edu
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights SFBA: ykhan@lccrsf.org, C:310-863-1432

Federal Judge Grants Temporary Relief for Yunseo Chung 

***PRESS RELEASE***

March 25, 2025, New York – Today a federal judge in the Southern District of New York provided temporary relief for twenty-one-year-old permanent resident Yunseo Chung. The court issued an order temporarily blocking ICE from detaining her because of her speech in support of Palestinian rights and in support of other students who have been disciplined for doing the same. 

On Monday, March 24th, CLEAR (Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility); Human Rights First; the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area; Emery, Celli, Brinckerhoff, Ward, Abady and Maazel LLP; the Law Office of Matthew Bray; and Jonathan Haftez filed an emergency motion to block ICE’s attempts to unlawfully detain Ms. Chung.

Today on March 25th, a judge in the Southern District of New York expeditiously heard our request, and granted Yunseo temporary relief to preserve the status quo. The judge ordered that ICE should not be allowed to detain her until further argument is heard as to why the government’s targeting of Yunseo is unlawful and unconstitutional. 

“After the constant dread in the back of my mind over the past few weeks, this decision feels like a million pounds off of my chest. I feel like I could fly. I’m so, so grateful to my legal team and my community of professors, students, and staff at Columbia that have given me strength at every turn.” —Yunseo Chung.

“Yunseo no longer has to fear that ICE will spirit her away to a distant prison simply because she spoke up for Palestinian human rights. The court’s temporary restraining order is both sensible and fair, to preserve the status quo as we litigate the serious constitutional issues at stake not just for Yunseo, but for our society as a whole.” —Ramzi Kassem, Co-Director of CLEAR. 

“May the day never come when the Secretary of State is allowed to single out a college student for banishment from the United States because of political protest. At the very least, we are relieved on behalf of our client that day is not today.” —Jordan Wells, Senior Attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area.

“This administration not only wants to target people for speech it dislikes, but wants to force them to defend themselves from an ICE jail thousands of miles from home. Today’s ruling ensures Ms. Chung will be able to have her day in court to challenge this administration’s illegal targeting of protesters in flagrant disregard of basic First Amendment principle.” – Nathan Yaffe, The Law Office of Matthew Bray

“It is terrifying to contemplate that the federal government mobilized to arrest a young college student simply because she went to protests the administration doesn’t like. We are grateful that the rule of law has been reimposed, at least for now.” —Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, Special Counsel, Human Rights First. 

“The Trump Administration is targeting Ms. Chung for deportation because the government doesn’t like what she thinks or says. We cannot live in a country where that is permitted to happen. We’re grateful to the Court for acting so quickly to protect Ms. Chung’s ability to live her life as a twenty-one-year-old college student, and we will continue to fight to vindicate Ms. Chung’s rights in court.” Sonya Levitova, Emery, Celli, Brinckerhoff, Ward, Abady, and Maazel LLP. 

In their filings, Yunseo’s legal team argued that she was likely to prevail in showing that the government unconstitutionally targeted her for her speech, and that she would suffer irreparable harm if she were forced to wait in detention to have a court hear her arguments.  

In court today, when asked, the government could not provide a single reason why Yunseo should be detained. Yunseo’s targeting is indicative of the Trump administration’s broader pattern of targeting students over their views in support of Palestinian rights, including Mahmoud Khalil, who is currently being held in ICE detention over his advocacy against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

This is not only a win for Yunseo, but a win for anyone who speaks up, on behalf of Palestinians, students facing discipline, or others.

While the court considers the arguments, Yunseo can live her life without the fear that she will be disappeared by ICE the way CLEAR’s other client, Mahmoud Khalil was.

This ruling is a step in the right direction — but right now, students, green card holders, and human rights defenders regardless of their citizenship status across the U.S. are being targeted for their First Amendment speech and advocacy for Palestinian freedom. As the Trump administration has promised to continue its repression of human rights defenders, we expect the courts to uphold civil liberties and ensure the right to free speech for all. 

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