Homeland Security said Thursday that it has released an illegal immigrant student from Columbia University, hours after President Trump promised New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani that she would be set free.
DHS said Elimina Aghayeva was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at her university apartment.
Mr. Mamdani said he raised the matter with Mr. Trump in a phone call and the president said she would be freed.
“He has just informed me that she will be released immediately,” the mayor said on social media.
Ms. Aghayeva posted to social media after the arrest, saying Homeland Security “illegally arrested me.”
Columbia University said Ms. Aghayeva was arrested early in the morning and said the immigration officers “made misrepresentations” to gain access to the residential building, which is owned by the school.
The university said immigration officers need “a judicial warrant or a judicial subpoena” to access non-public areas of university buildings.
DHS offered a different take.
“Homeland Security investigators verbally identified themselves and visibly wore badges around their necks. The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment,” the department said.
It said Ms. Aghayeva is an illegal immigrant from Azerbaijan.
She was here on a student visa but the Obama administration canceled it in 2016 for not attending class.
The department said she has no current application seeking status and so was a target for deportation.
She’s in deportation proceedings, but has “been released while she waits for her hearing,” the department said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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