Ellie Aghayeva, a senior at Columbia University’s School of General Studies, will be released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody “imminently” after Mayor Zohran Mamdani made a direct appeal to President Donald Trump, Mamdani wrote in a Thursday post to X.
The mayor had made an unannounced trip to Washington, D.C., on Thursday and visited with the president in the afternoon.
“Just got off the phone with President Trump. In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning,” Mamdani wrote in his statement. “He has just informed me that she will be released imminently.”
Aghayeva posted on her Instagram story at around 3:45 p.m. that she had been released.
Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, wrote on Thursday that ICE agents had made “misrepresentations” of their identities in order to gain access to a Columbia residential building and detain Aghayeva early in the morning, claiming they were searching for a missing person.
“The University is relieved and thrilled that our student, Ellie, has been released from detainment,” the university wrote in a statement shortly after Aghayeva’s release. “We will share additional details this evening.”
A source with knowledge of the matter told amNewYork that the agents said they were with the NYPD, which a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official has rejected. It is illegal in New York State for anyone, including federal officials, to impersonate local officials.
A DHS official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sources close to the situation told amNewYork that the Mayor’s Office had officially asked ICE not to move her out of the city so she could attend her court hearing here, something to which the agency agreed. Mamdani then brought the issue directly to Trump’s attention during their Oval Office meeting.
Later, the source said, President Trump phoned Mamdani to tell him that Aghayeva would be released.
Columbia implements additional security measures following detention
The university announced additional measures to secure the campus in a Thursday email to the Columbia community. Additional Columbia Public Safety patrols are being deployed to all Columbia residential buildings and all residential staff have “been provided with reminders regarding the University’s protocol for handling interactions with all law enforcement.”
“We’ve added the following clarification: For non-emergency situations, residential staff will not allow any law enforcement entry into our buildings without Columbia Public Safety present and guidance from the Office of the General Counsel,” the update reads.
The university instructed all residential staff to ask for identification and call Columbia Public Safety “if any federal law enforcement agents attempt to gain entry to a non-public building” in a “non-emergency situation.”
The university instructed affiliates to contact Public Safety “immediately” if they “encounter or observe DHS/ICE agents conducting enforcement activities on or near campus.” Columbia organized a same-day 3 p.m. webinar on “Immigration Policy and Understanding the Law,” which it plans to repeat at the same time on Friday for students, faculty, and staff.
Columbia pointed affiliates to the university’s counseling services and other centers for student support.
‘A new low’: Electeds condemn ICE detention of Columbia student from dorm building
Elected officials across New York City and New York State condemned the detention, which occurred at around 6:30 a.m.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a Thursday statement that the Trump administration’s “rogue deportation agenda is operating with zero transparency and even less accountability.”
“No one should disappear at the hands of the government. No student should be taken from their dorm through deception,” Hochul said, also citing an incident on Tuesday in which a blind man was reportedly “abandoned” by Border Patrol officers and died in the cold in Buffalo. “These incidents demand an independent investigation and real accountability. New York will not look the other way. If Washington won’t restore order and take action, New York will.”
ICE agents have detained hundreds of individuals at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan since the start of Trump’s second term in office, which began in January 2025, most of whom were attending routine immigration hearings. At Federal Plaza, agents often wear plain clothes and masks to conceal their identity while arresting immigrants.
Hochul noted her recently-proposed legislation seeking to ban ICE from deputizing local law enforcement officers and offer further protections for schools and student housing.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan) wrote in a statement to X after the student’s release that the “agents who apprehended Ms. Aghayeva blatantly abused the public trust by using a ruse to execute her detention. Their actions are a clear example of why state and local law enforcement agencies refuse to work with ICE.”
“This most recent episode of Trump’s America trauma campaign is merely another snapshot of the consequences that their breathless, illegal targeting has on goodhearted, innocent individuals like Ms. Aghayeva — and our communities at large. These actions by the administration fail to uphold the values of our nation and must stop immediately,” Espaillat wrote.
He wrote that his office worked “closely” with the mayor and Aghayeva’s family and attorneys to coordinate her release, and that she is “now at home with her closest friends.”
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams attended a protest outside Columbia’s gates, where over 100 demonstrators condemned the detention and called for Aghayeva’s release.
“These are levels of criminality that we have not yet witnessed in New York State. This is a new low for ICE, but a new and growing danger to all New Yorkers,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “It could be any one of us next.”
Williams called for an immediate investigation into whether DHS officials were illegally impersonating NYPD officers. He condemned the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration across the country, noting ICE’s presence in Minnesota, where agents shot and killed two citizens earlier this year.
“The MAGA leadership is trying to pit this country against itself and trying to get you to hate people that you shouldn’t hate,” Williams said outside the campus gates. “This was never about safety, this was never about rapists, this was never about murderers.”
In a statement posted to X, City Council Speaker Julie Menin (D-Manhattan) and City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu (D-Manhattan) condemned the incident and said they have been in touch with Columbia. Both Menin and Abreu are alumni of the university.
“ICE has no place in our schools and universities,” Menin wrote in the post, co-signed by Abreu. “These activities do not make our city or country safer, but rather drive mistrust and danger. As Columbia College alumni, our hearts are with the community there, and we have been in contact with the University to offer our assistance.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan) issued a joint statement with Assembly Member Michah Lasher (D-Manhattan), who is running to succeed Nadler in the House of Representatives, following his retirement, condemning the detention.
“We are disgusted and outraged that ICE agents entered a Columbia University residential building under false pretenses and without a judicial warrant to detain a student,” Nadler and Lasher wrote in the statement, posted to X. “ICE has no place in our City, schools, and homes. Law enforcement agents should not, under no circumstance, misrepresent their identity to gain entrance into a residence.
They added that ICE is “terrorizing our neighbors and ripping students from their homes.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also condemned the detention, writing in a statement to X that his office was “working closely with Columbia and the relevant authorities” to organize Aghayeva’s release.
“It is outrageous that ICE agents falsely represented themselves to arrest a Columbia graduate student by entering university-owned housing without a warrant,” Schumer wrote. “This is unacceptable. We need immediate answers from ICE on the student’s whereabouts.”
Updated at 5:05 p.m. on Feb. 26.
