Federal brokers with the Division of Homeland Safety apparently lied their means right into a Columbia College dormitory and arrested a scholar there, the college’s performing president Claire Shipman mentioned in a press release Thursday morning.
The brokers entered the housing constructing on West 122nd St. at round 6:30 a.m., Shipman mentioned. “Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person.’ We are working to gather more details.”
Whereas Shipman didn’t identify the arrested scholar, Columbia scholar Ellie Aghayeva filed a habeas corpus petition asking a federal decide to order her launch afterward Thursday morning.
Aghayeva, who’s from Azerbaijan, is an undergraduate learning neuroscience and political science who got here to the US on a visa 2016, in accordance with her petition. Her attorneys didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
DHS officers “represented that they did not have a warrant for Petitioner,” the submitting reads. The brokers as a substitute “represented they were searching for a missing person to gain entry.”
Within the early hours of Thursday morning, Aghayeva had pushed out an pressing Instagram story.
“Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help,” the publish learn.
In a press release from an unnamed DHS official, the division confirmed ICE had arrested Aghayeva, calling her, “an illegal alien from Azerbaijan, whose student visa was terminated in 2016 under the Obama administration for failing to attend classes.”
“The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment. She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS,” the assertion learn. It didn’t handle Shipman’s competition that the officers had misidentified themselves to achieve entry.
Aghayeva’s identify, and her Instagram publish, have been first reported on by the Columbia Spectator. Not like the scholars focused in Trump’s earlier crackdown on Columbia final 12 months for his or her activism towards Israel, Aghayeva’s account, which has greater than 100,000 followers, is usually about her life as a scholar at Columbia.
Columbia College college students and college protested exterior the principle campus after federal brokers detained a global scholar at her scholar housing, Feb. 26, 2026. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Shipman famous in her assertion that “all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access. An administrative warrant is not sufficient.”
“I’m pretty appalled that they were even able to get on our campus because they’re always insisting that our safety is their number one priority and we have pretty crazy security on campus, so I just don’t understand how they were able to get on campus,” mentioned an undergraduate scholar named Hope, who declined to supply her final identify.
“This should not have happened,” she mentioned.
Melanie Wall, a professor of biostatistics who joined the demonstrators, mentioned college had been urgent administration for extra safeguards for worldwide college students because the ICE arrests final 12 months, to no avail.
“Everybody who’s done anyICE or ICE watch training knows that they’re going to lie. Our security can’t ask the right questions and actually check for ID?”
“We don’t let people on campus without a warrant, blah, blah, blah,” Wall mentioned, referring to Shipman’s assertion in regards to the arrest. “That’s literally what happened. So it’s just classic gaslighting.”
The newest arrest got here after a string of them final 12 months through which DHS and ICE brokers focused college students and others who’d participated in campus encampments protesting in 2024 towards the warfare in Gaza.
ICE brokers entered Mahmoud Khalil’s campus housing and arrested him final march. He then spent 104 days in ICE detention earlier than a federal decide ordered his launch whereas his immigration case continues.
Khalil turned a distinguished determine within the 2024 campus protests the place he acted as a lead negotiator between scholar activists camped out on a campus garden calling for the college to divest from Israeli pursuits amid the continuing warfare in Gaza and campus directors.
One focused scholar, Ranjani Srinivasan, fled to Canada, whereas one other, Yunseo Chung, went into hiding till her arrest was blocked by a federal decide.
One other one who participated within the protests, Leqaa Kordia, continues to be in ICE detention in Texas. Kordia, who by no means attended Columbia, was arrested for remaining within the nation with an expired visa after her sealed protest arrest file was shared with the Division of Homeland Safety by the NYPD.
New York elected officers swiftly slammed the arrest.
“ICE has no place in our schools and universities,” Council Speaker Julie Menin and Majority Chief Shaun Abreu wrote in a joint assertion. “These activities do not make our city or country safer, but rather drive mistrust and danger. As Columbia College alumni, our hearts are with the community there, and we have been in contact with the University to offer our assistance.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who traveled to Washington on Tuesday to satisfy with President Trump, didn’t instantly touch upon the arrest.
Katie Honan contributed to this report.
Associated
