DHS Detains and Releases Columbia University Student

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security detained a Columbia University student at an off-campus residence hall Thursday morning, according to a message from Claire Shipman, acting president of Columbia, to students and staff.

Shipman said Thursday night that the federal agents gained entry by stating they were police searching for a missing child. The agents didn’t have “any kind of warrant,” she said.

The student, Ellie Aghayeva, a senior from Azerbaijan, was released Thursday afternoon. (That morning, she had posted, “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.”)

“I just got out a little while ago,” she wrote on Instagram. “I am safe and ok.” She described feeling “in complete shock over what happened.”

The news of her release came shortly after New York mayor Zohran Mamdani posted on X that he spoke with President Donald Trump about the issue.

“Just got off the phone with President Trump,” Mamdani wrote. “In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently.”

Earlier in the day, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to The Guardian that Aghayeva’s student visa was terminated in 2016 because she failed to attend class. The statement said the building manager and Aghayeva’s roommate let federal agents into the apartment.

Columbia security cameras captured the agents showing photos of the alleged missing child, Shipman said. Once the agents made it to Aghayeva’s apartment, “it became clear they had misrepresented themselves.”

Shipman added that a public safety officer on the scene asked multiple times for a warrant, which was not produced, as well as more time to call his boss—a request the agents denied.

“The agents took our student,” she said. “This was a frightening and fast-moving situation and utterly unacceptable for our students and staff. We started work immediately to gain her release. We are so grateful for the help and support we got from the mayor and the governor.”

Shipman added that “misrepresenting identity and other facts to gain access to a residential building is a breach of protocol.”

Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, said its members are “outraged” by reports DHS agents misrepresented themselves to enter the dorm.

“If these reports are accurate, this is a dangerous abuse of state power that threatens due process, undermines trust and safety on our campuses, and sends a chilling message to international students and scholars across the country,” Wolfson said in a statement. “Universities must not become extensions of immigration enforcement or sites of fear and intimidation.”