By Gus Saltonstall
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] officers detained a Columbia University student on Thursday morning, after they made “misrepresentations” to gain entry to a campus housing building, the school’s acting President Claire Shipman wrote in an email to the community.
At around 6:30 a.m., federal agents entered a Columbia University residential building and detained a student, according to Shipman.
“Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person,'” Shipman wrote in her email.
When reached for comment, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed to West Side Rag that ICE arrested Elmina Aghayeva on Thursday morning.
“ICE arrested Elmina Aghayeva, an illegal alien from Azerbaijan, whose student visa was terminated in 2016 under the Obama administration for failing to attend classes,” an unnamed DHS official wrote. “The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment. She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS. The Homeland Security Investigators verbally identified themselves and visibly wore badges around their necks. They did NOT and would not identify themselves as NYPD.”
Aghayeva posted on her Instagram story Thursday morning: “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.”
At 4 p.m. on Thursday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had met with President Donald Trump earlier in the day, wrote on Twitter, “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.”
Around the same time, Aghaeyeva again posted on her Instagram story, saying she had been released from detention.
“I am so grateful for everyone of you. I just got out a little while ago. I am safe and okay. In an Uber on the way back home,” she wrote. “I am so sorry but I am in complete shock over what happened and my phone is blowing up with calls from reporters. I need a little bit of time to process.”
DHS also sent out another statement at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday confirming Aghayeva’s release.
“ICE placed her in removal proceedings and she’s been released while she waits for her hearing,” a DHS spokesperson wrote.
Shipman released a follow up video message at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday to provide more details about what happened.
A statement from Acting President Claire Shipman on the detainment of a Columbia University student, and subsequent release, by agents from the Department of Homeland Security on February 26.
“We are all so relieved that our student, Ellie Aghayeva, has been released from… pic.twitter.com/fyj84G2QOL
— Columbia University (@Columbia) February 27, 2026
Multiple elected officials released statements reacting to the arrest, including a joint statement by New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Majority Leader Shaun Abreu, who also represents Morningside Heights.
“This morning we were briefed on a disturbing incident on the Columbia campus. Around 6:30am, ICE reportedly made misrepresentations to a security officer, purporting to be searching for a missing person. The agents subsequently detained a student,” the statement read. “ICE has no place in our schools and universities. These activities do not make our city or country safer, but rather drive mistrust and danger. As Columbia College alumni, our hearts are with the community there, and we have been in contact with the University to offer our assistance.”
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
The promise was to rid us of criminals, people dangerous to our lives, our safety, our property.
The reality is making quotas by cuffing people’s spouses at routine check-ins, our family caregivers, students, construction workers, people involved in every facet of food processing from harvesting to packing to shipping to delivery.
No matter how you slice this and what side of the argument you are on? You were lied to.
We were not lied to. If you are not authorized to be in the US then you should be deported or leave voluntarily. Illegals are not allowed to work in the US. That’s the law. I have 2 dozen employees. I also employ a caregiver and a house keeper. They are all here legally. Including two who spent years becoming legal!
We were lied to about what a sanctuary city was supposed to be. It was supposed to keep illegals who were victims of, or reporters of crime protected from deportation during police interaction. It was NOT supposed to prevent police from turning over criminals that they arrest to ICE when they have detainers.
You fail to recognize that ICE is indiscriminately targeting legal immigrants and full American citizens too. And with no warrants.
The organization I lead has two employees with green cards. They are justifiably concerned about whether ICE would attempt to imprison them or that somehow they would be prevented from returning to the country. ICE is picking up people who have committed no crimes and are here with proper papers.
Bill, If two of your employees “spent years becoming legal” were they originally here illegally? Or were they here patiently waiting for the process of getting a green card? Working, paying taxes, paying a lawyer, regularly checking in with homeland security? That is the very process so many of the people you refer to as “illegals” are going through when they are arrested and in some cases deported.
The fact that she was released easier than she was arrested lays waste to this argument
We only make arrests in 43% of violent crimes. Personally think we should focus on getting that number above 50% before we reorient our entire criminal justice system around… visa violations.
https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/resources/reports/UCR%20Summary%20of%20Reported%20Crimes%20in%20the%20Nation%202024.pdf
Bill, the people that ICE are detaining are those exact same people you employ who are in the process of getting their papers. That is why and how ICE detains so many NYers because they are waiting at the immigration court house (26 Federal Plaza). These are people who are in the process of getting their papers! Illegals dont go to the courthouse.
You dont understand the law. I hire people that have either a green card or the appropriate work visa. They are here legally. It is illegal for a business to hire people without proper documentation. The people you are referring to are here illegally. Doesn’t matter if they are now trying to stay by filing appeals on their cases.
Bill, you just admitted that it is illegal for businesses to hire people without proper papers. In fact, it is a more severe crime than working w/o proper papers, which in most cases is a civil offense. So why isn’t DHS arresting employers? Hypocrites.
You didn’t answer the question: what were you doing while 2 of your employees were waiting for green cards?
People seem to have forgotten the pandemic. Every night at 7 pm we applauded the “essential workers”, considering them heroes. Many of these people were delivery workers and other categories where most did not have papers.
Is this how you repay them for their heroism and service? How low have we sunk?
How about offering these hardworking and friendly neighbors, the vast majority peaceful and law abiding, a path towards citizenship?
Minnesota has gotten it right. Not “illegals” — neighbors.
That is not true. Many have gotten temp work permits and come to immigration to pursue permanency.
The bottom line is this: We have slightly more people retiring every year as native born hitting the job market (you can look up birth data on folk turning 65 – 70 and turning 20 – 22 and see for yourself).
We desperately need immigration. More legal immigration than currently allowed.
Which is why EVERY president up to now has tolerated the status quo and either quietly or openly pushed for compromise that legalizes a lot of current undocumented and widens legal immigration (as had Marco Rubio before he sold out).
And we won’t get that now, and it’s going to harm the country.
Just look at job creation since Jan 2025.
And I suppose if any or all of your 26 employees are ever detained and deported by ICE, it will necessarily mean they were here illegally and you’ll wish them good riddance. Likewise if it happens to you, no doubt — because that’s what “illegals” (as opposed to persons) deserve.
That might have been the sales pitch, but the bigots and xenophobes who put djt in power knew exactly what they were getting: a war against THOSE PEOPLE. And that explains why we still find Trumpists regularly defending such barbarisms, raving on interminably about the “illegality” of the presence of people they don’t like. Odd how they don’t call for the arrest, torture, murder, and/or exile to random destinations of our equally illegal jaywalkers and illegal litterbugs. (Or perhaps they do?)
“if Columbia students or faculty members came across federal agents attempting to enter non-public areas of the school, they should ask the agents to wait, and then contact the school’s public safety team,”
That’s bloody hilarious. Anyway, do we know if they/them is actually illegal or not?
Dino, they are not just detaining people without citizenship status. They are detaining people who have legal status but are in the immigration process to become citizens….often people who are literally at the immigration court, following the law.
These federal agents are the ones who are not following the law by lying, misrepresenting themselves as police officers and entering without a warrant. Disgusting. Put them in jail!
If you have leagal status, you can’t be deported. If you are here illegally and are trying to change your status you can be deported and you can be deported on an expedited basis if you are caught within 2 years or within 100 miles of the border.
As for agents not following the law, Agents are allowed to lie and per new policy/assertion they are allowed to enter and arrest on an administrative warrant.
These people have no right to be here and should deported.
New policy that clearly violates the fourth amendment.
You obviously, clearly, painfully do not know what is going on. ICE has been arresting individuals at immigration courts and during routine check-ins. These arrests often occur immediately after cases are dismissed by ICE attorneys (who are increasingly filing motions to “pretermit”—or dismiss—asylum applications without a full evidentiary hearing), a tactic that enables the government to circumvent the adjudication process.
You must’ve failed civics. Admin warrants are not suitable for entry to a property. Only judicial warrants with sworn out probable cause, approved by a sitting judge.
“Per new policy/assertion” which is blatantly unconstitutional. You can’t cancel the Constitution by administrative “policy” or Executive Order. People who overstay their visas are not criminals–it’s a civil offense. People who enter illegally are generally guilty of misdemeanors. These are not hardened criminals, the worst of the worst and are entitled to due process and not to be treated worse than animals.
Not correct for “unlawful presence” and expiration time of I-94. One can not just sit back and not make the requisite filings.
You can be deported immediately for “unlawful presence “ through a process called expedited removal, which allows ICE or CBP agents to deport individuals without a hearing before an immigration judge
“per new policy/assertion they are allowed to enter and arrest on an administrative warrant”.
Per the 4th Amendment they are not.
That’s what I say/said!
Of course we do, Dino: human beings are not illegal, although sometimes they can be quite a few other things, as your question demonstrates.
Trump continuing to cause chaos and domestic terrorism.
Law enforcement resources would be best used to arrest violent criminals.
She herself posted “arrested by DHS” – NOT ICE. Her visa was terminated by Obama.Those are facts.
ICE is a component of the Department of Homeland Security.
never confuse them with facts, it just triggers more irrational outbursts
“When reached for comment, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed to West Side Rag that ICE arrested Elmina Aghayeva on Thursday morning.”
But hey, if she’s a dangerous criminal, why split hairs? By any means necessary!
A friend overstayed his visa in Germany because he fell in love. Their agents almost broke the door down, gave him 3 minutes to gather his belongings and put him on a flight back to The US. It seems that our system is not that bad.
Not that bad? A blind, father of two, age 56 was taken by ICE. When they determined he was not eligible for deportation, they dropped him off at a donut shop. He was later found dead. Google is free.
Found dead 5 days later..how is ICE responsible for that?
Germany has historically not been the model that I think the US should aspire to…
Right? We are getting closer to 1940s Germany at this point
would the school rather have outsiders who take over the buildings?
find the illegals, deport the illegals
ez peezy
Are you talking about some of the smartest students in our country protesting one of the worst human rights abuses of their lifetimes?
Words to that effect even appear at the base of the Statue of Liberty, you know.
Why is Columbia allowing people with an expired student visa to attend school?
Colleges must ensure that students maintain their F-1 status.
Columbia should also be in trouble with this one, 10 years expired and she is a student?
Because the students generally lie or give false paperwork, just like workers. They have to attest they are legal.
Columbia is responsible that the student maintains their F-1 status.
10 years ago in this case it seems the student did have status. Columbia recognizes that the student is now just a senior. No amount of paperwork is going to show she is maintaining a full time course load for F-1. Columbia intentionally allowed this student to continue. No outside paperwork needs to be checked. The student was either carrying 32 credits a year or not (not means no F-1).
Mamdani has just tweeted that he discussed with Trump and that Trump said she will be released immediately.
Columbia screws up again.
Hard to imagine that no one in authority at Columbia had thought of this scenario.
On the other hand, given Columbia’s record….
You are barking up the wrong tree. Columbia did nothing wrong. The DHS agents lied about who they were and what they were doing. The guard trusted them.
Sam,
That’s the point, Columbia did wrong by not preparing for ICE and ICE lies.
ICE didn’t show up with a warrant.
No. Columbia admitted as a student someone whose visa expired 10 years ago. They did indeed do something wrong
Except, you can apply to Columbia sans student visa. What Columbia didn’t do is insist on renewal.
The bigger problem is that Columbia (as I wrote) didn’t make any serious preparation for ICE showing up and lying.
If the student’s visa really had expired, then ICE could easily have gotten a read warrant for arrest. Instead, ICE lied about a missing child and impersonated cops.
You are believing ICe’s story. Because of course they never lie.
As a Columbia alum I can’t even get onto campus without special pre-authorization so reading this irritates me. If they’re going to let ICE in, the least they could do is reopen the campus to alumni and the neighborhood.
Magas pretend to be Christian but ignore its teachings when it’s convenient. See Mathew 25:35-40 regarding immigrants. I’ve found that people who own small business are invariably Maga. Their main interest is getting more money. More money. Money.
Egads! So much language about “illegals” and “them” and “outsiders”. When my direct ancestors came to this country in the second ship after the Mayflower, they come into a land that wasn’t their own to escape prosecution and did so while undergoing starvation and disease. They were welcomed, fed and sheltered. If we want a healthier system for immigration, let us build it. But clause 4 of our Constitution says that a state cannot deny a person within their jurisdiction full protection of the laws based on immigration status. Please note that it uses the word “person” and not “citizen”. Which means that, if you are undocumented, you must be give the full power of clause 3- due process. If someone is truly causing harm, I understand the need to have them under the oversight of law enforcement; however, bands of masked men who are lying and kidnapping people and sending them to black sites in foreign countries is not only immoral, but illegal.
ICE, with their masks and guns, and without warrants or any pretense of due process, hunts down people of color, whether here legally or not, and whether or not they are U.S. citizens. They have killed US citizens and others, and deported some to the El Salvador torture prison known as CECOT. Often these people are merely exercising their First Amendment right to protest. Others are students in their schools, workers at their workplaces, or those showing up for their immigration appointments 26 Federal Plaza. This is what the Germans did to my relatives in Eastern Europe.
ICE doesn’t go after the”illegals” who are white, including many Irish who work in various occupations and businesses in Long Island, among a variety of other places in the U.S. Trump voters may not be the best informed part of the electorate, but they know this.
Are you Rachel Maddow?
I can’t get over the fact these “ICE” people deliberately prepared a (false) flyer about a young missing child in order to lie and falsely represent themselves, and by that now endanger and hinder REAL investigations of ACTUAL missing children. The callousness and cruelty are staggering to me.
At this point, we know that ICE agents are trained to violate OUR 4th Amendment rights. The only response to any request from them is “not without a signed warrant”
What exactly in this “students” case 4th amendment rights were violated? Consent was given for entry to the building and the room mate also gave access to the apartment. The exclusionary rule also by the way does not apply (supreme court ruling INS v. Lopez-Mendoza).
The “student” already had a status of “unlawful presence”. The student did not file any paperwork since the disqualification of a F-1 status. That gives way to deportation without any further judicial proceedings. There is a general timeline for a deportation, 10 years for sure gives way to immediate deportation.
So now Columbia brings upon themself a clear mismanagement of F-1 students., Below are the consequences depending on how deep they are into this mismanagement.
A college that fails to properly manage F-1 students risks losing its authorization to enroll international students, faces federal investigations
Instead of Columbia trying to defend this “student” they should. be spinning how they mishandled this situation and that they are capable of still having authorization to enroll international students.
Also by the way there is no requirement for DHS/ICE to tell the truth to gain access as long as the deception is not coercive. Columbia should be embarrassed to state that the authority in question lied.
So ICE agents can sneak in to kidnap someone but I can’t walk to the subway from Amsterdam Avenue because teenagers made the administration look slow and dumb. OPEN THE GATES
It’s long past time
Her student visa was revoked in 2016 for not attending classes, by Obama. So its 10 YEARS later and she’s still a student living on campus?? Makes no sense, there must be more to the story