Federal Agents Allegedly Entered Columbia Housing Claiming a Missing Person, A Student Was Detained Instead
According to the university, agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security accessed a residential area that normally requires swipe-card entry early Thursday morning.
Rather than conducting a missing-person investigation, officers detained student Ellie Aghayeva, a senior studying neuroscience and political science, according to reporting from The New York Times.
Aghayeva later said on Instagram that she was “illegally arrested,” a claim that immediately sparked concern among students, faculty, and immigrant-rights advocates.
Columbia did not confirm whether officers had a judicial warrant, which is a key legal distinction. The university reminded its community that law enforcement must present a judicial warrant or subpoena to enter non-public campus areas, and clarified that administrative warrants alone do not grant access.
Meanwhile, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he raised the incident during a scheduled call with Donald Trump, later stating that the president informed him Aghayeva would be released imminently.
The incident adds to growing tensions over immigration enforcement tactics on college campuses, where questions about due process, transparency, and student safety are increasingly colliding with federal immigration policy.
As questions continue to mount about how federal agents accessed a restricted residential area on campus, the incident has become a larger example of highlighting the national conversation over immigration enforcement tactics and due process.
Of course ICE should have judicial warrants, but they never do and still have been detaining people all over the US. About 60 people died in detention last year because they were denied medical attention or worse. The criminals in the administration can’t police themselves.😫
That is outrageous. The sooner they get thrown in jail for there illegal activities the better.