{"id":156306,"date":"2026-03-07T18:17:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T18:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/156306\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T18:17:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T18:17:20","slug":"body-cam-video-shows-nypd-response-to-fed-agents-arrest-of-columbia-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/156306\/","title":{"rendered":"Body-cam video shows NYPD response to fed agents’ arrest of Columbia student"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NYPD on Friday released body-camera footage of officers encountering Department of Homeland Security agents after last week\u2019s federal immigration arrest of Columbia University student Ellie Aghayeva<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Columbia Acting President Claire Shipman has said that DHS agents \u201cmisrepresented\u201d that \u201cthey were police searching for a missing child\u201d<\/a> to enter a Columbia apartment building and temporarily detain one of its students. DHS has said agents identified themselves but has not commented on the missing person allegation.<\/p>\n

The release of the video came days after Democratic lawmakers sent a letter calling on NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to publish the footage<\/a> related to the arrest of Aghayeva, a Columbia senior from Azerbaijan. The elected officials also asked Columbia to release its own security footage, which school officials have declined to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public interest demands transparency and accountability related both to the actions of the Federal officers involved and the assertions made by DHS officials,\u201d read the Monday letter, signed by State Assemblyman Micah Lasher, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and local City Councilman Shaun Abreu, among others.<\/p>\n

The nearly 11-minute video<\/a> shows an anonymous 911 caller on Feb. 26, the day of Aghayeva\u2019s arrest, reporting two \u201csuspicious\u201d men dressed in dark clothes trying to gain entry. There is no sign of Aghayeva in her apartment.<\/p>\n

Body-cam footage from the viewpoints of two police officers shows them responding to the call just after 6:30 a.m. at W. 121st St. At the scene, police find a Columbia school safety officer and a plainclothes DHS agent, who appears to be wearing a Homeland Security badge around his neck, in the hallway. Two more DHS agents and a man identified as the building superintendent are found inside the apartment, with both of the former sporting badges.<\/p>\n

It was not clear from the footage if the three DHS agents, or two more agents that Shipman has said were present, had been wearing the badges when they first entered the building. The university president has also said the Columbia officer arrived after \u201cit became clear they had misrepresented themselves,\u201d and then asked them \u201cmultiple times\u201d for a warrant.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NYPD released body-camera footage of officers encountering Department of Homeland Security agents after last week’s federal immigration arrest of Columbia University student Ellie Aghayeva. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

Hoylman-Sigal on Friday thanked the NYPD for making the footage available.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the video, it\u2019s more imperative than ever that @Columbia release their security camera footage so we can fully understand how ICE gained access to this off-campus housing and to the extent civil rights violations occurred,\u201d he wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Columbia\u00a0referred the Daily News to Shipman\u2019s prior statements.\u00a0DHS did not immediately return\u00a0a request\u00a0for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure full transparency and show exactly how our officers appropriately responded to this incident, the NYPD released both the body worn camera footage and 911 call,\u201d a NYPD spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Aghayeva\u2019s arrest appeared to be the first time in nearly a year that federal immigration authorities were active on Columbia\u2019s campus, which has been rocked by the detention of several classmates, including most famously, former graduate student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the video, the police officers enter the building through an intercom system. There are no Columbia personnel downstairs.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NYPD released body-camera footage of officers encountering Department of Homeland Security agents after last week’s federal immigration arrest of Columbia University student Ellie Aghayeva. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

Upstairs, the first DHS agent in the hallway, when asked what he is there for, responds a Homeland Security investigation and provides identification.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the \u2018suspicious person?’\u201d a police officer asks, to which the DHS agent smirks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe called the super on the intercom,\u201d the DHS agent said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NYPD released body-camera footage of officers encountering Department of Homeland Security agents after last week’s federal immigration arrest of Columbia University student Ellie Aghayeva. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

Police enter the apartment and find two more DHS agents and a third man, who the first agent identified as the building superintendent: \u201cI think that\u2019s the \u2018suspicious person\u2019 right there. \u2018All black,’\u201d an officer quips at the sight of one of the agents in dark clothes.<\/p>\n

One agent provides identification, while the other does not. The officers respond that \u201ctwo out of three\u201d is \u201cfine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The police officers apologize for disturbing the DHS agents and tell them: \u201cStay safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aghayeva was released later that afternoon after Mayor Mamdani at an unrelated meeting with President Trump<\/a> asked that she be let go, as well as that the cases of four other people connected to Columbia \u2014 three current and former students and a protester \u2014 be dropped.<\/p>\n

\"ColumbiaColumbia University neuroscience student Ellie Aghayeva is escorted to her apartment with her face covered, after being detained by federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in New York City. (Photo by Ryan Murphy\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I sat with the president in the Oval Office, I brought up to him the fact that ICE had detained a Columbia student just that morning,\u201d Mamdani said at an unrelated news conference on Tuesday. \u201cI believe that all of their cases should be dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the meeting concluded, shortly thereafter, I received a phone call from the president informing me that he was taking the decision to release her imminently.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Rocco Parascandola<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NYPD on Friday released body-camera footage of officers encountering Department of Homeland Security agents after last week\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,85,267,9,24,264,10,12,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-156306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-county","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-the-bronx","18":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","19":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156306","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=156306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}