Overview
- Interim President Claire Shipman said DHS agents entered a Columbia residential building around 6:30 a.m. Thursday after misrepresenting their purpose as a search for a missing person.
- Attorneys identified the detained student as Ellie Aghayeva, a senior from Azerbaijan studying neuroscience and political science, who posted on Instagram that DHS had “illegally” arrested her.
- Lawyers filed an emergency petition asserting agents lacked a judicial warrant and said Aghayeva was transferred to a federal detention center in Lower Manhattan.
- Columbia reminded students that only a judicial warrant or subpoena grants access to non‑public areas and instructed them to refuse entry and contact Campus Public Safety for any law‑enforcement request.
- DHS had not issued details on the operation, with a spokesperson saying a statement is forthcoming, as New York officials including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Jerry Nadler condemned the tactic and lawyers noted a wider pattern of deceptive immigration enforcement, including a related Columbia arrest last year.