Cornell grad student Momodou Taal is the latest example of the Trump Administration revoking student visas in light of the holder’s anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism. CNN OutFront host Erin Burnett played dumb on Friday as she claimed that for the administration, anti-Semitism is merely a justification to go after pro-Palestinian protestors.
Burnett was talking about how the Department of Homeland Security laid off 300 employees from three divisions, including the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, when she switched to Taal, but not before using some wild rhetoric, “This Friday night, mass firing massacre coming as the Trump administration is now caught in the middle of another immigration standoff demanding the deportation of another university student involved in pro-Palestinian protests. A lawyer for Cornell University grad student Momodou Taal says ICE is now demanding he surrender to be deported.”
She then teed up a clip from her February 17 show, “Now, he's in the United States legally on a student visa. We actually spoke to him and we saw—he said he saw this coming a couple of months ago, he told our reporter, Elle Reeve that he's living in fear because of his views.”
In the clip, Taal accuses university leadership and Trump of being out to get them, “Of course, there's like a fear for many international students right now, but that's the intended effect with the levels of repression that the university has meted out on their students. It was done in such a way to lull and bring down the protesters. And I think what Trump is trying to do now is a continuation of that kind of policy.”
Burnett simply took Taal’s claims at face value, “Well, that is now playing out in court. They're demanding his surrender.”
A few minutes later, she turned to Taal’s case and claimed, “And without even knowing the specifics of his case right, they're saying if someone was involved in those protests, that would put them suspect of just definitional anti-Semitism or supporting terrorism that could allow them to be kicked out of the country regardless of their legal status, which is pretty stunning in and of itself.”
Back in the real world, the Washington Free Beacon has reported that Taal has claimed he takes “cue from the armed resistance in Palestine," views “every single Zionist is a sick sick individual,” and claimed “Zionists are indeed the chosen people… Chosen for hell."
He also declared, “We are in solidarity with the armed resistance in Palestine from the river to the sea.” Taal also praised October 7, “The dialect demands: That wherever you have oppression, you will find those who [are] fighting against it. Glory to the resistance!"
After receiving his visa, he tweeted, “Student Visa issued. We going to America baby! Alhamdulillah!" and “When the enemy is US imperialism, then absolutely anyone the US calls an enemy is my friend.”
The scandal isn’t that Taal is going to be deported; it’s why he was let in in the first place.
Here is a transcript for the March 21 show:
CNN Erin Burnett OutFront
3/22/2025
7:02 PM ET
ERIN BURNETT: This Friday night, mass firing massacre coming as the Trump administration is now caught in the middle of another immigration standoff demanding the deportation of another university student involved in pro-Palestinian protests. A lawyer for Cornell University grad student Momodou Taal says ICE is now demanding he surrender to be deported. Now, he's in the United States legally on a student visa. We actually spoke to him and we saw — he said he saw this coming a couple of months ago, he told our reporter, Elle Reeve that he's living in fear because of his views.
MOMODOU TAAL: Of course, there's like a fear for many international students right now, but that's the intended effect with the levels of repression that the university has meted out on their students. It was done in such a way to lull and bring down the protesters. And I think what Trump is trying to do now is a continuation of that kind of policy.
BURNETT: Well, that is now playing out in court. They're demanding his surrender.
…
7:11 PM ET
BURNETT: And, Ryan, you know, you have, we mentioned the man from Cornell. And without even knowing the specifics of his case right, they're saying if someone was involved in those protests, that would put them suspect of just definitional anti-Semitism or supporting terrorism that could allow them to be kicked out of the country regardless of their legal status, which is pretty stunning in and of itself.
All of that context is part of what we saw even in that hearing today. So, there was something else I know that stood out to you there.
