Federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security apparently lied their way into a Columbia university dormitory and arrested a student there, the university’s acting president Claire Shipman said in a statement Thursday morning.
The agents entered the housing on West 122nd St. at around 6:30 a.m., Shipman said. “Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person.’ We are working to gather more details.”
While Shipman did not name the arrested student, Columbia student Ellie Aghayeva filed a habeas corpus petition asking a federal judge to order her release later on Thursday morning.
Aghayeva, who is from Azerbaijan, is an undergraduate studying neuroscience and political science who came to the United States on a visa 2016, according to her petition. Her lawyers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Aghayeva had pushed out an urgent Instagram story.
“Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help,” the post read.
Aghayeva’s name, and her Instagram post, were first reported on by the Columbia Spectator. Her account, which has more than 100,000 followers, is mostly about her life as a student at Columbia, with one recent post captioned:
“only goal this year is to be
an academic weapon,
gymaholic,
social life,
succesful,
healthy habits,
and a baddie
AT THE SAME DAMN TIME.”
Shipman noted in her statement that “all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access. An administrative warrant is not sufficient.”
A spokesperson for DHS didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the arrest.
The new arrest is reminiscent of a string of them last year where DHS and ICE agents targeted students and others who’d participated in protests against the war in Gaza during the encampments of 2024.
ICE agents entered Mahmoud Khalil’s campus housing and arrested him, after which he spent 104 days in ICE detention before a federal judge ordered his releasewhile his immigration case continues.
Khalil became a prominent figure in the 2024 campus protests where he acted as a lead negotiator between student activists camped out on a campus lawn calling for the university to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza and campus administrators.
New York elected officials swiftly slammed the arrest.
“ICE has no place in our schools and universities,” Council Speaker Julie Menin and Majority Leader Shaun Abreu wrote in a joint statement. “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.”
Katie Honan contributed to this report.