Columbia University student released by Homeland Security after being detained in New York dormitory

By Darren Lyn

HOUSTON - A Columbia University student detained Thursday by Department of Homeland Security agents at her dormitory was released later the same day after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani intervened, according to media reports.

Elaina Aghayeva was taken into custody early Thursday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Columbia University said federal agents misrepresented their reason for entering the building.

“Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a 'missing person,'” Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said in a statement. “We are working to gather more details.”

Mamdani said he contacted President Donald Trump to demand Aghayeva’s release. The mayor announced Thursday afternoon that Trump told him Aghayeva would be “released immediately.”

Aghayeva later posted on Instagram that she had been freed.

“I just got out a little while ago. I am safe and okay. In an uber (on the way) back home,” she wrote. “I am so sorry, but I am in complete shock over what happened.”

The Department of Homeland Security said Aghayeva is a native of Azerbaijan and alleged her student visa was terminated in 2016 during the Obama administration for failing to attend classes.

Court documents identify Aghayeva as an undergraduate student at Columbia’s School of General Studies pursuing degrees in neuroscience and political science. She entered the United States around 2016 on a visa, according to court filings.

Homeland Security officials said “the building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment” and that Aghayeva “has no pending appeals or applications with DHS.”

The agency did not address the university’s allegation that agents misrepresented their purpose to gain entry.

Aghayeva’s attorney, Carl Hurvich, filed a habeas petition in federal court before her release, arguing she was unlawfully detained and held “without justification.”

Hurvich said the petition alleged agents “represented they were searching for a missing person to gain entry” and did not have a warrant for Aghayeva’s arrest. He also sought a temporary restraining order to prevent the Trump administration from transferring her out of New York during her detention.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul criticized the detention.

“Let’s be clear about what happened: ICE agents didn’t have the proper warrant, so they lied to gain access to a student’s private residence,” said Hochul.