{"id":146760,"date":"2026-02-27T00:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/146760\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T00:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T00:03:14","slug":"columbia-student-detained-by-ice-is-abruptly-released-after-mamdani-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/146760\/","title":{"rendered":"Columbia student detained by ICE is abruptly released after Mamdani me…"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Federal immigration authorities arrested a Columbia University student early Thursday, triggering protests on campus along with allegations that agents had entered the university-owned residence under false pretenses.<\/p>\n

Just hours after detaining student Ellie Aghayeva, though, the federal government abruptly reversed course, permitting her to walk free after an apparent intervention by President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n

In a social media post<\/a> Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he expressed concerns about the arrest during an unrelated meeting with Trump, who then agreed to release her immediately. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am safe and okay,\u201d Aghayeva wrote on Instagram, minutes after Mamdani’s post, adding she was in \u201ccomplete shock\u201d from the experience.<\/p>\n

The head-spinning series of events marked the latest development to emerge from the Republican president\u2019s unlikely relationship<\/a> with a democratic socialist mayor he once threatened<\/a> to have deported.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, while pitching Trump on a massive housing project<\/a>, Mamdani also called on the president to drop cases against several other current and former students facing deportation for their roles in protests against Israel.<\/p>\n

Aghayeva, a senior from Azerbaijan studying neuroscience and politics, hasn’t been publicly linked to any of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled Columbia’s campus. A self-described content creator, she has amassed a large social media following by sharing day-in-the-life videos and tips for navigating college as an immigrant.<\/p>\n

Early Thursday, federal agents gained entry to her apartment by claiming they were searching for a missing person, according to a petition from her lawyers and a statement released by Columbia. She quickly dashed off a message to her more than 100,000 followers on Instagram: \u201cDHS illegally arrested me. Please help.\u201d A photo accompanying the post appeared to show her legs in the backseat of a vehicle.<\/p>\n

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Aghayeva\u2019s student visa had been terminated in 2016 for failing to attend classes. Inquiries to Columbia about her visa status and how long she had been enrolled in the university were not returned. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Federal immigration authorities arrested a Columbia University student early Thursday, triggering protests on campus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-146760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}