On Thursday, federal immigration authorities arrested Columbia University student Ellie Aghayeva early in the morning, sparking protests on campus and prompting allegations that agents entered a university-owned residence by posing as police officers searching for a missing child. Within hours, the federal government reversed course and allowed her to leave, according to Mamdani and Aghayeva’s statements after her release.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the timing of Aghayeva’s release appeared to follow his intervention: in a social media post Thursday afternoon, he said he raised concerns about the arrest during a separate meeting with President Donald Trump. Mamdani said Trump then agreed to release her immediately.
Aghayeva posted that she was “safe and okay” on Instagram minutes after Mamdani’s post, adding she was in “complete shock” from what she described as a detention experience. A photo accompanying the post appeared to show her legs in the back seat of a vehicle.
Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said in a video released Thursday night that the agents gained entry by stating they were police searching for a missing child, and that security cameras captured agents in a hallway showing pictures of the alleged missing child. Shipman said the entry occurred at 6 a.m., shortly before Aghayeva was detained.
A DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said Aghayeva’s student visa had been terminated in 2016 for failing to attend classes and that she had been placed in removal proceedings. McLaughlin said Aghayeva was released while she waits for her hearing, and the DHS spokesperson disputed the allegation that agents posed as New York City police officers, while declining to respond to questions about whether they had claimed to be seeking a missing child.
Aghayeva is a senior from Azerbaijan studying neuroscience and politics, according to the report. She has not been publicly linked to pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled Columbia’s campus, and she has built a social-media following by sharing day-in-the-life videos and tips for navigating college as an immigrant.
In a petition from Aghayeva’s lawyers, attorneys said agents entered her apartment at 6 a.m. by claiming they were searching for a missing child. The lawyers said Aghayeva entered the country on a visa in or around 2016, but they declined to provide additional comment, including details about her immigration status.
Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia and vice president of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, criticized the arrest and release sequence. He said it was “a horrifying sign” that the administration was turning back to Columbia, arguing that the idea of “secret police” abducting and imprisoning students in the midst of the campus community was something students would expect from an “authoritarian regime.”
Shipman also told Columbia’s community by email that residential staff had been reminded not to allow federal law enforcement into university buildings without a subpoena or warrant. She wrote, “If you encounter or observe DHS/ICE agents conducting enforcement activities on or near campus, immediately contact Public Safety,” and added that staff should not allow agents into non-public areas or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.
This incident came amid recent scrutiny of immigration enforcement tactics, including reports that agents elsewhere used disguises or misrepresentations to gain entry. It also followed weeks of renewed pressure on universities, as Trump intensified attacks on schools including Harvard and UCLA, and it marked what appeared to be the first federal enforcement action at Columbia since the university agreed to pay more than $220 million to the administration over the summer.