{"id":68,"date":"2026-05-17T08:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T08:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/?p=68"},"modified":"2026-05-17T08:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T08:36:14","slug":"zohran-mamdani-kept-columbia-student-in-new-york-then-phoned-with-trump-to-secure-her-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/?p=68","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani Kept Columbia Student in New York \u2014 Then Phoned With Trump to Secure Her Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A Columbia student<\/span> detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday morning has been released from federal immigration custody.<\/p>\n

Read more Pentagon Implores Civilian Workers to Join ICE \u201cVolunteer Force\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Elmina Aghayeva, a neuroscience researcher and influencer from Azerbaijan, took to social media to thank her supporters hours after her arrest caused an uproar on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so grateful for everyone of you,\u201d Aghayeva wrote in an Instagram story posted on Thursday afternoon. \u201cI just got out a little while ago. I am safe and okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed Aghayeva\u2019s release, which came after Mamdani discussed the issue in a meeting with President Donald Trump earlier in the day. Mamdani said on X that Trump had called him following the meeting to say that Aghayeva was set to be released.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mayor\u2019s Office on Thursday morning asked that ICE not move her out of New York City, so she could have her day in court here, and ICE cooperated with the request,\u201d the spokesperson told The Intercept. \u201cMayor Mamdani then raised the issue directly with the President at the White House, and shortly after their meeting, the President informed him over the phone that Aghayeva would be released.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal agents detained Aghayeva at university housing early on Thursday morning, according to interim Columbia President Claire Shipman. In an email to the university community, Shipman wrote early Thursday that agents with the Department of Homeland Security entered a Columbia residential housing building and detained the student at approximately 6:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bOur understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a \u2018missing person,\u2019\u201d Shipman said in her email.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Students rallying to get the student released collected information about the detention and, in a letter to New York City Council Member Shaun Abreu, said they had learned from a security guard at the building that federal agents represented themselves as members of the New York Police Department and Columbia security officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what was relayed to us, the individuals who arrived were presented as NYPD alongside Columbia Public Safety,\u201d the students wrote in the letter to Abreu, which was obtained by The Intercept.
At a protest outside the gates of the university on Thursday afternoon, Abreu alleged that the agents had masqueraded as NYPD cops.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider it to be very much confirmed that they pretended to be NYPD officers in search of missing persons,\u201d Abreu told The Intercept. \u201cSo they used false pretenses and they used straight-up lies to get the person they were looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

In post on X, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said,
\u201cICE used a phony missing persons bulletin for a 5 year old girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Government Ordered to Turn Over Files on ICE Agent Who Killed Renee Good<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is that this student\u2019s Fourth Amendment rights were violated when ICE entered this building under false pretenses and engaged in criminal conduct,\u201d Hoylman-Sigal went on. \u201cWe have clear evidence that this was a criminal operation. They are the secret police.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security, New York Police Department, City Hall, and Shipman\u2019s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Columbia security guard declined to comment.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said it had arrested Aghayeva, who is Azerbaijani, for not having a proper student visa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment,\u201d the Homeland Security spokesperson told The Intercept. \u201cShe has no pending appeals or applications with DHS.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The students who wrote the letter to the City Council also said they spoke with the detained student\u2019s roommate, who said the agents did not present a warrant.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the roommate, the individuals who entered did not present a warrant to the occupants,\u201d the students said in the letter, whose contents The Intercept was unable to independently confirm. \u201cShe could not confirm whether a warrant existed, but stated that the officers or agents allegedly misrepresented themselves or the circumstances in order to gain entry into the apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shipman implored members of the university community to not let unidentified people into campus buildings without a judicial warrant.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bIt is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing,\u201d Shipman wrote. \u201cAn administrative warrant is not sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security, New York Police Department, City Hall, and Shipman\u2019s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The incident took place a day after students rallied on campus to demand protections for international students as well as calling for the release of Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian student who has been in federal custody since her arrest by immigration agents nearly a year ago.<\/p>\n

Read more Mamdani Condemns NYC Expo Promoting Property Sales in Israeli West Bank Settlements<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a developing story and will be updated.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThey pretended to be NYPD officers in search of missing persons,\u201d a city council member said of ICE. \u201cThey used straight-up lies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}