A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from detaining a Columbia University student and lawful permanent resident whom federal agents have targeted for deportation after she took part in an anti-Israel demonstration earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald’s preliminary injunction on Thursday blocks Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from taking 21-year-old Yunseo Chung into custody. Chung is originally from South Korea and has lived in the U.S. since she was seven years old.

ICE had attempted to arrest her in March but were unsuccessful and the court has now barred ICE from detaining her without prior approval.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS DETENTION OF COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTER YUNSEO CHUNG

If the government tries to detain Chung for any reason other than her potential deportation, it must give 72 hours' notice to Chung’s lawyers and the court and allow the court time to determine if the detention attempt is a pretext for First Amendment retaliation.

The ruling also states that she remains free while her legal case proceeds.

Ramzi Kassem, co-director of CLEAR, a legal nonprofit at City University of New York that is representing Chung, praised the ruling.  

"This is a win not just for Yunseo and for the legions of people who stand up for Palestinians and oppose the daily atrocities in Gaza that our government underwrites, but also for freedom of speech and the rule of law in our country," Kassem said in a statement, per the Washington Post.

It comes after the same judge in March ordered immigration officials to cease their efforts to arrest Chung.

The Trump administration has alleged that her participation in a protest poses a potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequence for the United States. 

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Chung’s attorneys say that the government’s pursuit of the Columbia student is an "unjustifiable assault on [the] First Amendment." Chung sued the government earlier this year. 

The lawsuit states that Chung was a participant in the anti-Israel protests, not a leader, and was "one of a large group of college students" expressing "shared concerns" over the war in Gaza. Chung, according to the lawsuit, "visited" the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, a number of tents organized in the center of campus, but does not state whether she stayed there. The lawsuit also makes it clear that she did not make public statements or engage in high-profile activities while at the protests.

Chung’s lawsuit states that she was never arrested or disciplined in relation to events at the encampment. However, she was later arrested during a 2025 protest at Barnard College. The lawsuit claims that it is common in New York City for police to arrest many protesters and that charges are usually dropped or dismissed.

The lawsuit states that on March 8, an ICE official signed an administrative arrest warrant for Chung and federal law enforcement went to Chung’s parents’ house the next day seeking to arrest her.

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An ICE official allegedly told Chung’s attorneys on March 10 that her green card had been "revoked," according to the lawsuit. The government has the authority to rescind permanent resident status if it believes that a person has violated U.S. immigration law.

Chung’s attorneys say in the lawsuit that law enforcement searched Chung’s dorm room on March 13 in accordance with a warrant.

She was valedictorian of her high school senior class and has a near-perfect GPA heading into her senior year, according to court documents. Chung is double-majoring in English and women’s and gender studies at Columbia, the Washington Post reported. 

The Trump administration has also sought to deport former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, whom it accuses of playing a major role in anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.

The fight over Jimmy Buffett’s estate has sparked a massive legal battle.

His widow has filed a petition to have co-trustee Richard Mozenter, who manages the late musician's estate, removed for failing to act in her "best interests" with the marital trust that was "created for her benefit."

Jane Buffett, who married the singer in 1977, made the legal filing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, alleging that Mozenter, also a co-trustee of the marital trust set up for her, has been "openly hostile and adversarial" toward her and worked against her, according to the legal filing obtained by Fox News Digital. 

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"Mr. Mozenter has failed to perform even the most basic tasks required of him in his role as co-trustee, including providing Mrs. Buffett with information concerning Trust assets and finances, which has left Mrs. Buffett in the dark with regard to the state of her own finances," the filing said. "Along the way, Mr. Mozenter has belittled, disrespected, and condescended to Mrs. Buffett in response to her reasonable requests for information she undoubtedly was entitled to receive. As a result, the majority of Mrs. Buffett’s net worth is controlled by someone she does not trust, and to whom the Trust for her benefit must pay enormous fees—more than $1.7 million in 2024 to him and his firm—no matter how badly he treats her."

Mozenter has filed his own petition in Florida to have her removed as co-trustee and representative of the estate, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Mozenter for comment.

Jimmy Buffett died in 2023 following a battle with cancer, leaving a $275 million estate. 

Jane's filing claims that one month after the musician’s death, she reached out to Mozenter to find out how much she would be expected to receive from the trust going forward. 

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"Rather than help his recently-widowed client understand her finances, Mr. Mozenter spent the next 16 months stonewalling and making excuses for why he could not yet provide the requested information," the filing said. 

In February, Mozenter finally gave Jane an estimate that the marital trust would generate less than $2 million in net income annually, a rate of return of less than 1%, according to the filing.

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Mozenter "acknowledged that, over the prior 18 months, Margaritaville—a company of which the Trust owns roughly 20%—had paid distributions of approximately $14 million, but he decided against including any estimate of future distributions from Margaritaville in his analysis of the Marital Trust’s future income."

The filing stated that Mozenter told Jane that Margaritaville "continues to evaluate future business opportunities and how they deploy existing liquid assets."

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He told her, based on that analysis, that the trust would not cover her annual expenses, saying she could consider making "adjustments" or selling her own real estate to make up the difference, the filing claims. 

"If the Marital Trust truly earns such a low return consistent with the financials Mr. Mozenter presented, it will confirm that Mr. Mozenter is either not competent to administer the Trust or unwilling to act in Mrs. Buffett’s best interests," Jane’s filing claimed.

Buffett landed on the Forbes billionaires list for the first time in 2023 for an empire that, along with his music, included his "Margaritaville" island escapism brand sparked by his hit 1977 song. As chair of Margarita Holdings LLC — in which Buffett held a 28% stake — he had resorts, restaurants, casinos, cruises and merchandise. 

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Following their marriage in 1977, Buffett and Jane welcomed three children together, including Savannah, 46, Delaney, 33, and Cameron, who was born in 1994 and adopted by Buffett and Jane. 

Fox News' Larry Fink contributed to this report.