Columbia Student Freed After School Accuses ICE of Lying to Make Dorm Arrest

Amid growing backlash over detention policies under the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents reportedly misrepresented themselves to gain access to a Columbia University residence hall on February 26, where they detained a foreign student.

Claire Shipman, acting president of Columbia University in New York, said in an official statement that federal agents entered a Columbia residential building and “illegally” detained a student named Elmina “Ellie” Aghayeva. “This morning at approximately 6:30 a.m., federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered a Columbia Residential building and detained a student," Shipman said.

Shipman added that the university believes the agents misrepresented themselves to gain access to 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.’ We are working to gather more details.”

She emphasized that law enforcement officials must present proper legal authorization before entering nonpublic areas of the university, including residence halls and classrooms. “An administrative warrant is not sufficient,” Shipman said, noting that agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access areas requiring CUID swipe access.

The agents allegedly gained entry by stating they were police searching for a missing child. They went to the apartment of the student and took Aghayeva, an Azerbaijan-born student. “This was a frightening and fast-moving situation and utterly unacceptable for our students and staff,” said Shipman.

“Let me be clear—misrepresenting identity and other facts to gain access to a residential building is a breach of protocol. All law enforcement agencies—including DHS and ICE—are obligated to follow established legal and ethical standards. And we expect those standards to be respected,” she said.

The Columbia student was freed several hours later after New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke to President Donald Trump about her detention during a White House meeting.

“Just got off the phone with President Trump. In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” Mamdani said in a statement on X.

Shipman said she was “grateful” for the help and support the university got from the mayor and the governor.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about the accusations while maintaining that the dorm building manager and Aghayeva’s roommate permitted agents to enter, according to USA Today.

Officials claimed that Aghayeva’s student visa expired in 2016.

In a social media post, Aghayeva said she was grateful that she was freed from ICE custody. “I am safe and okay. I am so sorry but I am in complete shock over what happened and my phone is blowing up with calls from reporters,” she said.

“I need a little bit of time to process everything. I will come back soon. But please don’t worry. I love you all,” she posted on Instagram Stories.