A student at Columbia University was detained Thursday morning by federal immigration officers.
Columbia University President Claire Shipman said that “federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person.’” The school’s campus has been closed to outsiders since 2024.
The president did not name the student, but it has been confirmed to be Ellie Aghayeva, an undergraduate neuroscience student who was expected to graduate this year. She was taken from her dorm room at the school’s New York City campus at 6:30 am.
She does not talk about politics on her social media accounts, save for one video she posted last year displaying a chart of her political ideology.
Just ONE image of the political conpass with the dot being on Lib-Left… pretty sure that was the only reason
“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. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” Mamdani said in a social media announcement.
Shortly after Mamdani’s statement, Aghayeva confirmed that she had been released from ICE detention and was going back to her apartment.
“I am safe and okay,” she wrote, adding, “I am so sorry but I am in complete shock over what happened.”
Hmm interesting…
I wonder what would’ve happened if Cuomo was in that position… would he even fight it? (probably not lol)
I hope Mamdani can save her and other innocents.
It says she was also an influencer. How many bad things did she say about Trump or the GoP. Honnestly I’m convinced ICE is prioritizing political opponents.
What do you think the Palantir contract is for?
WTF is this Y axis?
This has to be a Trump->ICE quotas thing; nothing else makes sense.
90% of racists still believe there are “good ones,” and who’s more of a “good one” than a neuroscientist?
Just goes to show you that it’s never been about ridding the country of dangerous people.
“Worst of the worst”. Clearly /s
But yeah, while I want to say something about lax security, this is typically just students who are supposed to watch the door. It’s not reasonable to expect to resist being steamrolled by armed masked thugs
So now they’re weaponizing missing persons. Now no one is going to help the next time someone is in trouble
Whew! I’m sure glad they’re getting rid of those dangerous neuroscientists. They might figure out stupid our government is.
It’s likely it’s also to stop them from moving to a better country afterward
They repeat the line about due process a lot, but not the fact she was there legally, which has to be inferred by the fact she came home after release.
Does the article come off as jarring, or is it just me?
Seeing that this a cute young smart girl, I have the darkest most horrific suspicion of what it is they are going to do to her - considering what they have seen they can get away with now. 😰
Bad site, that’s still archive dot today.
Whats wrong with archive.today?
Owner stuck some code into its CAPTCHA page to DDoS a blog and edited some of the archived material. More information here.
Thank you, grim news
Why would ICE look for missing people in a dormitory? That’s NYPD’s job if it’s anyone’s.
I bet the author of the article knows. Since they wrote it in the article.
They wouldn’t, but the article says
Columbia University officials and local lawmakers say ICE posed as NYPD cops and used the excuse of a phony missing child to gain access to the building
If true, that is likely a crime.
I would be surprised if it is.
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Some federal agents get temporarily deputized as local law enforcement in the areas they operate in (and vice-versa).
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It’s not illegal for law enforcement to lie.
Between 1 and 2, I’d be amazed if anything criminal could be charged here.
-Ex-cop
I think 1 is unlikely because it’s NYPD and ICE. 2 is true broadly because there isn’t a law forbidding it in general, but there is a law against lying about being a public servant.
I don’t think there will be charges here, but I think a very ambitious prosecutor could bring charges. They might even find a jury mad enough to make them stick.
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Tbh I would also expect Columbia to lie about this for them. There’s a pretty good chance they knew it was ICE and they decided to go with plausible deniability
The whole situation is a crime. But impersonating a police officer should at least get the NYPD to do something. Don’t want ICE besmirching their good name do we?
ACAB
I swear to the gods if the cops start fighting with ice and someone makes the LOTR “side by side with a “ joke about it I’m gonna have an aneurism
Assuming dorm counts as residence for 4th amendment purposes like an apartment? If there’s no judicial warrant for it they had no justification for entering.
The Constitution has either specifically allowed ICE as they claim or it has been powerless to stop it. Either way it is unfit to exist.
They have been doing this at people’s homes for months now are you kidding
Who is going to stop them? ICE is determined to prove they are above all laws.
tHe WoRsT oF tHe WoRsT
Y’all’queda says women should not go to school.
MAGA hates the educated.
So did Pol Pot.
If I had a dollar for every time a neuroscience undergraduate student took my job, sold me drugs, and raped me I’d have at least five bucks
This is why we need to strike when they are in the early stages. Give someone like this enough time and they will start rotting our brains espousing pro-vaccine BS.
Does it count as impersonating a law enforcement officer, if you’re a different kind of law enforcement officer? I would think so. But cops are legally allowed to lie. So maybe not?
Very likely. The statute doesn’t seem to have an exception for one kind of cop lying about being a completely different kind of cop.
