A senior at Columbia University was taken into custody by U.S. immigration authorities early Thursday but was released the same day after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani personally raised the matter with President Donald Trump.
The episode unfolded around 6 a.m. when agents from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived at a university residence hall. Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, reported that the agents entered the building by identifying themselves as local police officers looking for a lost child. Campus security video allegedly captured them showing photographs of the purported child while moving through the corridors.
The student detained was Ellie Aghayeva (also identified in some reports as Elmina Aghayeva), an Azerbaijani national studying neuroscience and politics. Shortly after being placed in custody, she posted on Instagram to her more than 100,000 followers: “DHS illegally arrested me. Please help.” The message included an image that appeared to show her inside a vehicle.
Campus demonstrations quickly formed in reaction to the arrest. Public accounts have not linked Aghayeva to earlier pro-Palestinian protests that affected university operations.
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A DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, explained that Aghayeva’s student visa had been revoked in 2016 because she stopped attending classes. She was subsequently placed in removal proceedings but was released on her own recognizance while awaiting a future hearing. The spokesperson rejected allegations that agents had misrepresented themselves as New York City police officers, though the department did not specifically comment on the claim regarding a search for a missing child.
The situation shifted rapidly when Mayor Mamdani, during a previously scheduled discussion with President Trump about New York City housing policy, brought up Aghayeva’s detention. Later, Mamdani posted on X: “Just got off the phone with President Trump. In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently.”
Within a short time, Aghayeva updated her Instagram followers: “I am safe and okay,” while noting she was still processing the experience and remained “in complete shock.”
In response, Columbia University circulated internal guidance instructing staff to deny federal agents access without a judicial warrant or subpoena and to immediately alert campus public safety personnel in similar situations. Acting President Shipman characterized the agents’ method of entry as relying on “misrepresentations.”
The case draws attention to current immigration enforcement practices, including the increased use of pretextual approaches to enter private premises—tactics that immigration lawyers say remain generally permissible under existing law. It also illustrates an unexpected point of cooperation between President Trump and Mayor Mamdani, who has previously been the target of the president’s public criticism and deportation-related remarks.
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