New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday said President Donald Trump called to inform him that a Columbia University student who was detained by federal immigration agents in a university residential building earlier in the day would be “released imminently.”
The student, Elmina Aghayeva, is from Azerbaijan and is a senior in the university’s School of General Studies. The university’s acting president, Claire Shipman, wrote in a message to the university community on Thursday that federal agents “made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building.”
“The agents gained entry by stating they were police searching for a missing child,” Shipman added in an update Thursday night. “They made their way to the apartment of the student they were targeting with the same story. Our security cameras captured the agents in the hallway showing pictures of the alleged missing child.”
University-affiliated public-safety officers also asked several times to see a warrant but were rebuffed, Shipman said.
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Shortly after Mamdani posted about his request to Trump, Aghayeva posted to her Instagram account that she had been released.
“I just got out a little while ago,” she wrote. “I am safe and okay.”
Mamdani’s announcement that Aghayeva would be released is the latest sign of how much influence the democratic socialist has over Trump. It came after he met with Trump at the White House the same day.
When reached for comment by NOTUS, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson called Elmina Aghayeva an “illegal alien” and said that her student visa had been revoked a decade ago.
They also denied that agents misrepresented themselves to gain entry to the building in question.
“Homeland Security Investigators verbally identified themselves and visibly wore badges around their necks,” the spokesperson said. “The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment.”
Aghayeva filed a habeas corpus petition with the Southern District of New York on Thursday morning following her detainment in an effort to secure her release.
But DHS denied that she has any “pending appeals or applications with DHS,” adding that she has been placed in removal proceedings, pending a hearing.
Retiring New York Rep. Jerry Nadler and state Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who is running for Nadler’s seat, wrote in a joint statement Thursday that they were “disgusted and outraged that ICE agents entered a Columbia University residential building under false pretenses and without a judicial warrant to detain a student.”
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal wrote in a post on X that “ICE agents impersonated NYPD with fake badges and a phony missing persons bulletin for a 5 year old girl.”
This is the first time a person affiliated with Columbia University has been detained by federal immigration agents at a university-owned residence since the detainment of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil in March 2025, which prompted widespread protests and calls for his release. Khalil was detained for 104 days and is currently being threatened with rearrest and deportation.
In messages first obtained by the Columbia Daily Spectator, Aghayeva texted fellow students, “Ice is in my house.”
“They are trying to take me away,” Aghayeva texted. “Can someone help me.”
Later that morning, Aghayeva posted a picture to her public Instagram account requesting assistance.
“Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help,” the caption read.
By Thursday afternoon, protestors had gathered around the school’s gates, which are still largely closed to people unaffiliated with the university.
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