Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia College senior who stated federal immigration brokers illegally arrested her after allegedly utilizing false pretenses to enter her dorm, has been launched, she confirmed on Instagram.
“I simply bought out a short while in the past,” Aghayeva wrote in an Instagram story. “I’m protected and okay. In an Uber otw (on the best way) dwelling.”
She added that she was being inundated with calls from reporters. “I would like a bit of little bit of time to course of all the pieces. I’ll come again quickly. However please don’t fear.”
Her launch got here hours after New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani stated he raised her case throughout a White Home assembly with President Donald Trump.
“Simply bought off the cellphone with President Trump. In our assembly earlier, I shared my considerations about Columbia scholar Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning,” Mamdani wrote on X. “He has simply knowledgeable me that she might be launched imminently.”
Aghayeva was detained early Thursday by federal immigration officers who, in keeping with college officers and her attorneys, misrepresented themselves as New York Metropolis police looking for a lacking baby as a way to achieve entry to a residential constructing.
Hours earlier, she had posted to her greater than 100,000 followers: “DHS (Division of Homeland Safety) illegally arrested me. Please assist,” alongside a photograph that appeared to point out the backseat of a automobile.
IMMIGRATION SECURTINY ON CAMPUS
Aghayeva is a senior in Columbia’s College of Normal Research, double majoring in neuroscience and political science. A self-described content material creator, she ceaselessly shares research routines and recommendation about navigating faculty as an immigrant.
The incident comes practically a 12 months after federal brokers detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate scholar and Palestinian activist, in college housing. His case sparked protests and renewed debate over immigration enforcement on faculty campuses.
Columbia coverage requires regulation enforcement brokers to current a judicial warrant or subpoena to entry personal areas, together with scholar housing. In her electronic mail, Shipman reminded college students to not enable brokers into personal areas and to contact campus public security as a substitute.
Attorneys say the usage of alleged misrepresentation by immigration authorities has drawn growing consideration nationwide, although such techniques are authorized in lots of circumstances.
WHAT HAPPENED
In keeping with college officers and her attorneys, brokers from the Division of Homeland Safety entered a Columbia residential constructing at roughly 6:30 a.m., claiming they had been looking for a “lacking individual.”
“Our understanding presently is that the federal brokers made misrepresentations to achieve entry to the constructing to seek for a ‘lacking individual,’” Appearing President Claire Shipman wrote in a letter to college students and workers. “We’re working to assemble extra particulars.”
In an emergency petition, Aghayeva’s attorneys stated Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers didn’t have a warrant however represented they had been looking for a lacking individual to achieve entry to her university-owned house. She was initially held at a federal detention middle in Decrease Manhattan, they stated.
A Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson confirmed her arrest and stated her scholar visa had been terminated in 2016 for failing to attend lessons. The spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to questions in regards to the timing of her launch.
– Ends
With inputs from Related Press
