Lawmakers call on Columbia, NYPD to release video footage in ICE arrest of student

Local lawmakers are calling on Columbia University and the NYPD to release video evidence, including any security and body-worn camera footage, of the moments surrounding the Thursday morning ICE arrest of a student in her off-campus apartment.

Assemblymember Micah Lasher said in a letter the evidence might shed light on what transpired during the arrest in Manhattan. Federal agents took student Ellie Aghayeva into custody on allegations her student visa had been revoked. They gained entry to her building saying they were “police” searching for a missing child, according to the school.

“Here, too, the public interest demands transparency and accountability related both to the actions of the Federal officers involved and the assertions made by DHS officials,” wrote Lasher, who invoked the viral videos of the ICE shooting deaths in Minneapolis of noncitizen protesters Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. “Once again, video evidence may reveal the Trump administration lying to the American people about the conduct of its agents.”

A Columbia spokesperson said the university has declined to release the footage, citing university policy that surveillance footage won’t be released outside the university without a subpoena. The NYPD has not responded to calls to release its officers’ body camera footage in the incident.

The Department of Homeland Security also did not respond to a request for comment. An attorney for Aghayeva, who was released several hours after her arrest, declined to comment.

Lasher represents a swath of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights that includes Columbia University, and he is also running for Congress to fill the seat soon to be left empty by Rep. Jerry Nadler, who is retiring from Congress. Lasher said other public officials have since signed onto the letter since he sent it this morning, including Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Assemblymember Jordan Wright of Harlem, Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu and state Sen. Cordell Cleare of Harlem.

The letter, addressed to Columbia President Claire Shipman and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, referenced the Minneapolis shooting deaths and how video footage challenged DHS officials’ versions of what happened.

“While there are obstacles to the prosecution of federal officers in this context, it is important to understand nonetheless whether they violated the law, including by impersonating police officers,” the letter said.

Lasher held a press conference on Monday outside Columbia’s gates that also included Wright, Hoylman-Sigal, candidates for his Assembly seat and representatives from local community groups. He said he did not make the same requests to the Department of Homeland Security, saying at the conference, “None of us are waiting for truth or transparency from DHS.”

“This is the fundamental question: Are you hiding something from the public and the press and the Columbia University community and the wider community here in Morningside Heights?” Hoylman-Sigal asked at the conference. “ We hope not, but in the absence of them releasing these files of security and body-cam footage, what is the public led to believe?”

An NYPD spokesperson said on Monday that officers responded to a 911 call for “two suspicious males” at Aghayeva’s apartment building on Thursday morning and “verified the federal agent’s status” upon arrival before leaving the location. The spokesperson said per federal law, the NYPD cannot interfere in federal operations.

Shipman said on Thursday that federal officers “misrepresented themselves” in Aghayeva’s arrest, gaining entry to her off-campus, university-owned residential building and apartment by claiming they were “police” looking for a missing child. She said security camera footage captured the officers carrying photos of the alleged missing child in the hallway of the building.

Civil liberties advocates and legal experts say ICE officers’ alleged ruse may have violated the law. The attorneys said federal officers may have “coerced permission” to gain entry to Aghayeva’s apartment, possibly violating Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement last week that the officers who arrested Aghayeva “verbally identified themselves” and “visibly wore badges around their necks.” The spokesperson did not provide any additional details about how the officers represented themselves or address Shipman’s assertion that the officers claimed to be searching for a missing child.

In a whirlwind day of events, Aghayeva was released several hours after she was arrested, following a plea from Mayor Zohran Mamdani in his unannounced visit Thursday with President Donald Trump. The arrest was followed by a midday protest, with about 200 students and faculty members marching outside Columbia’s gates.

Aghayeva, who is from Azerbaijan, is studying neuroscience and political science in Columbia’s School of General Studies, which caters to nontraditional students, who are usually older than typical undergraduates. She entered the U.S. around 2016 on a visa, according to a lawsuit filed on her behalf in federal court. A DHS spokesperson said her student visa was revoked that same year for not attending classes.