A Columbia University student was arrested early Thursday by federal immigration agents who gained entry to her student housing by posing as investigators searching for a “missing person,” according to her attorneys and a statement from the school’s president.
The student, Ellie Aghayeva, is a senior from Azerbaijan who is studying neuroscience and political science, her attorneys said. A self-described content creator, she has gained a wide audience on social media, where she often shares stories about navigating the Ivy League school as an immigrant.
At around 7:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, Aghayeva posted a message to her more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. “DHS illegally arrested me. Please help," she wrote, referring to the Department of Homeland Security. A photo accompanying the post appeared to show the backseat of a vehicle.
In an emergency petition filed Thursday, attorneys for Aghayeva said she was taken into custody by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement inside her student housing, then transferred to a federal detention center in Lower Manhattan.
The agents did not have a warrant, her attorneys said, but “represented they were searching for a missing person to gain entry.”
No reason was given for the arrest, according to the petition, which requests her immediate release.
In an email shared with students and staff, the university’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said that federal agents had entered a residential building at around 6:30 a.m., claiming they were seeking a missing person.
Inquiries to DHS were not immediately returned.
The use of disguises or other misrepresentations by immigration authorities has drawn attention in recent months, after federal agents were seen posing as utility workers and other service employees in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
The practice is legal, in most cases. But immigration attorneys say such ruses are becoming increasingly common, adding to concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.
The incident comes nearly one year after federal agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, then a Columbia graduate student and Palestinian activist, inside his university-owned housing. Khalil is out on bail, fighting his own deportation case.
In the months after his arrest, many students called on the university to do more to secure the campus from federal immigration enforcement.
Columbia currently requires that all law enforcement agents have a judicial warrant or subpoena to access non-public areas of the university, including housing.
In her email, Shipman said students should not allow law enforcement agents to enter non-public areas of the university and should not accept service of a warrant or subpoena, but should call campus public safety instead.
She said the university was in the process of reaching out to the student’s family and providing legal support.
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