ICE arrest at Columbia: pupil launched after Mamdani meets Trump | World Information
5 min learnFeb 27, 2026 06:46 PM IST
Federal immigration authorities arrested a Columbia College pupil early Thursday, triggering protests on campus and allegations that brokers gained entry to the university-owned residence by posing as law enforcement officials looking for a lacking youngster.
Simply hours after detaining pupil Ellie Aghayeva, although, the federal authorities abruptly reversed course, allowing her to stroll free after an obvious intervention by President Donald Trump.
In a social media submit Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani stated he expressed issues concerning the arrest throughout an unrelated assembly with Trump, who then agreed to launch her instantly. “I’m protected and okay,” Aghayeva wrote on Instagram, minutes after Mamdani’s submit, including she was in “full shock” from the expertise.
The top-spinning sequence of occasions marked the most recent consequence of the unlikely relationship between the Republican president and Mamdania democratic socialist who Trump as soon as threatened to have deported.
On Thursday, whereas pitching Trump on a large housing venture, Mamdani additionally referred to as on the president to drop circumstances towards a number of different present and former college students dealing with deportation for his or her roles in protests towards Israel. Aghayeva, a senior from Azerbaijan learning neuroscience and politics, hasn’t been publicly linked to any of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled Columbia’s campus.
A self-described content material creator, she has amassed a big social media following by sharing day-in-the-life movies and suggestions for navigating school as an immigrant.
Early Thursday, 5 federal brokers gained entry to her house at 6 a.m. by claiming they have been looking for a lacking youngster, based on a petition from her attorneys and a press release launched by Columbia’s performing president, Claire Shipman.
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“The brokers gained entry by stating they have been police looking for a lacking youngster,” Shipman stated in a video launched Thursday evening. “Safety cameras captured brokers in a hallway displaying footage of the alleged lacking youngster. Aghayeva then dashed off a message to her greater than 100,000 followers on Instagram: “DHS illegally arrested me. Please assist.”
A photograph accompanying the submit appeared to indicate her legs within the again seat of a car. A Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson stated Aghayeva’s pupil visa had been terminated in 2016 for failing to attend courses.
Inquiries to Columbia about her visa standing and the way lengthy she had been enrolled within the college weren’t returned. Of their petition, attorneys for Aghayeva stated she had entered the nation on a visa in or round 2016. They declined to offer extra remark, together with particulars about her immigration standing.
A spokesperson for DHS, Tricia McLaughlin, stated Aghayeva had been positioned in removing proceedings and “launched whereas she waits for her listening to.” She disputed allegations that brokers had posed as New York Metropolis law enforcement officials however didn’t reply to questions on whether or not they had claimed to be in search of a lacking youngster.
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The usage of disguises or different misrepresentations by immigration authorities has drawn consideration in current months, after federal brokers have been seen posing as utility staff and different service staff in Minneapolis and elsewhere. The observe is authorized, usually. However immigration attorneys say such ruses have gotten more and more frequent, including to issues concerning the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement techniques nationwide.
In current weeks, Trump has as soon as once more intensified his assaults on a number of universities, together with Harvard and UCLA. The arrest would appear to mark the primary federal enforcement motion at Columbia for the reason that college agreed to pay greater than $220 million to the administration over the summer season. “It’s a horrifying signal that the roving eye of the administration is popping again to Columbia,” stated Michael Thaddeus, a arithmetic professor at Columbia and vp of the college’s chapter of the American Affiliation of College Professors, which has sued Trump.
“The concept secret police would abduct and imprison college students in our midst is one thing we’d anticipate from an authoritarian regime.”Many college students and school referred to as on Columbia to extend protections for worldwide college students following the arrest final March of Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate pupil and pro-Palestinian activist, whose deportation case stays ongoing.
In an e mail to the Columbia group Thursday, Shipman stated that residential workers had been reminded to not enable federal regulation enforcement into college buildings and not using a subpoena or warrant. “In case you encounter or observe DHS/ICE brokers conducting enforcement actions on or close to campus, instantly contact Public Security,” the performing president wrote. “Don’t enable them to enter private areas or settle for service of a warrant or subpoena.”