Judge blocks arrest of Columbia student Yunseo Chung
Throughout a brutal hearing, the judge called the government's conduct "disturbing" and "disappointing."
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After a brutal hearing for the government, a federal judge issued an injunction blocking the government from detaining, arresting or transferring Columbia University student Yunseo Chung.
“This is a new world. I’m a little taken aback,” U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said in court.
During a hearing that lasted a little more than an hour, Judge Reice Buchwald tore into the government’s “disturbing” and “disappointing” conduct.
For nearly three months, the Department of Homeland Security has unsuccessfully tried to find and arrest Chung for deportation proceedings, and a federal judge last week proposed a solution to break the impasse. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can simply serve her attorneys with a notice to appear, initiating Chung’s deportation proceedings — while preventing what the judge called an unnecessary and traumatizing arrest.
Chung has not been accused of a crime, except for a protest-related misdemeanor that has been dismissed.
On Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Waterman rejected the judge’s proposal curtly.
“The answer is no,” Waterman wrote. “ICE has broad discretion over actions and decisions to conduct arrests and initiate removal proceedings, including the manner in which it serves [a notice to appear (NTA)].”
Since serving the notice would have started his client’s deportation proceedings, Chung’s attorney Ramzi Kassem remarked: “The government is simply refusing to take yes for an answer.”
All of the parties agreed that serving the notice or effectuating an arrest would make no practical difference in terms of initiating deportation proceedings. Kassem said that the only reason he could imagine ICE would prefer the latter would be to take Chung to Louisiana or Texas in order to deprive the court of jurisdiction.
Waterman also refused to provide the judge with a copy of the notice to appear, which he said ICE has not yet issued. The judge noted that the government’s briefings suggested that such a notice already existed, and she expressed disappointment in her inability to trust the accuracy of that statement.
“It is disturbing to say the least,” the judge said.
When Chung’s lawyer asked for the ruling to apply nationwide so his client can travel, the judge responded: “The government may not arrest her. It has nothing to do with where she is.”
Today’s ruling fell in the context of the Trump administration’s ongoing war on higher education in the name of opposing antisemitism. For the first time on Wednesday, Trump threatened Columbia University’s accreditation after trying to target Harvard University for punishment and being rebuked in court.
It is time to kill ICE. The agency was created in the time of paranoia and continues to operate in that framework, making it dangerous for everyone in the US. Save a bunch of money too, a bone to throw to the GOP.
Wow! We descend further into the Looking Glass each day. I love the bit about “the government refuses to take “yes” as the answer.” But it very disturbingly points to why government won’t take “yes” for an answer. ICE wants to humiliate, and deny the legal and constitutional rights of anyone it ensnares with its masked and unidentified agents. Very disturbing indeed.