Since President Trump took office with a promise of mass deportations, college leaders have been getting the same advice from lawyers, advisers and Democratic state officials: If immigration agents try to enter non-public areas on campus, ask for legal permission or a subpoena. Campuses have distributed this guidance to staff and students in messages and social media throughout the month.
But on Thursday, Columbia University tried that, and it didn’t work.
Five employees of the Department of Homeland Security entered the campus building pretending to be looking for a missing child, said Claire Shipman, Columbia’s acting president, in a statement Thursday night. A university security camera captured images of agents showing photos of the allegedly missing child in a hallway.
They then locked up Ellie Aghayeva, a student from Azerbaijan, in her house. The public safety officer “repeatedly asked for a warrant to be issued, and asked for time to call his supervisor, which was not granted,” Shipman said. Aghayeva was released on Thursday afternoon, after a conversation between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Trump.
A DHS spokesperson denied that agents misrepresented themselves in a statement to us Within Higher Ed. According to DHS, the agents “identified themselves orally and put badges around their necks,” and the building manager and Aghayeva’s roommate allowed the agents into the apartment. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement “placed him in removal proceedings” and released him pending a hearing. His student visa was reportedly terminated in 2016 for not attending classes.
The spokesperson did not comment on the allegations that ICE refused to produce the warrant.
The incident raises new questions for college leaders about how to prepare their campuses for visits by ICE agents and protect immigrants and international students: If ICE issues regulations, what does that mean for the higher ed playbook?
Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said, “What happened, as mentioned, is very concerning.”
“When federal agents enter residential buildings under reported misrepresentation, it creates fear and instability in what should be one of the safest places on campus,” he said. Aghayeva’s arrest shows that “even if campuses follow the rules and the law, that doesn’t mean immigration officials will.”
Updating Protocols
Still, Feldblum believes the guidance given by higher ed leaders should hold.
For his part, Columbia did all the right things to prepare for ICE: It separated public and private spaces on campus and had regulations in place to demand a warrant if ICE tried to enter private space. Following the incident, the university has strengthened campus security measures, including increased public safety monitoring in residence halls and specifying that residence hall staff should not allow law enforcement during emergencies without the direction of university public safety and the Office of General Counsel.
“Just because immigration officials don’t follow the law doesn’t mean campuses don’t need to have regulations,” Feldblum said, “because what we’ve learned at Columbia … is that if campuses have regulations in place, they’re in a much better position to respond quickly when something happens and support their students when they’re detained.”
The university provided legal services to Aghayeva and “immediately began work to obtain a release” with “help and support” from the mayor and governor, according to statements from Shipman.
Feldblum stressed that institutions must focus on what they can control.
“Institutions can control their internal processes, even when they can’t control what the tactics are to strengthen immigration,” he said.
Gaby Pacheco, president and CEO of TheDream.US, which provides scholarships for undocumented students, said campuses need to teach all staff and students — not just administrators and public safety officials — when and how to get legal permission, if they haven’t already. He also encouraged immigrant and international students to memorize the name and phone number of an immigration attorney in case something like this happens to them.
The incident is the result of an “unsupervised agency … that now has a very strong ability to lie” and “goes after people in an illegal and illegal way” with insufficient training, Pacheco said. “Unfortunately, college campuses from students to professors and staff will have to be vigilant and make sure they protect each other because we can’t trust our government to do the right thing.”
Pacheco also praised Columbia for providing legal support services to Aghayeva, noting that “very little” institutions can do when “one student” [is up] against the United States government and the Department of Homeland Security. “
Calling for Accountability
In a situation where federal agents do not always follow the law, immigrant advocates argue that it is important to pair these policies with campus services and demands that ICE officials be prosecuted by federal lawmakers.
Aghayeva’s arrest comes at a time when Senate Democrats are blocking a bill that would provide more funding for DHS, demanding changes to immigration enforcement. And public school districts and university faculty members recently sued ICE over its policy of allowing immigration actions in public schools or near colleges and universities. On Trump’s second day in office, DHS revoked protections for “sensitive areas,” making campuses fair game for immigration enforcement actions. Since then, there have been dozens of arrests on or near campuses, including the arrests of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist, and Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University.
Justin Mazzola, deputy director of research at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement Friday that “ICE has no place in or around schools.”
Mazzola said Within Higher Ed that colleges should put ICE preparedness policies in place and retrain staff on how to protect themselves, but at the end of the day, “it’s really up to ICE. They need to stop undermining the rule of law” and lawmakers need to ensure “oversight and accountability.”
“It really puts the students in a state of fear,” he said. “People won’t feel safe going to law enforcement if they’re worried that ICE is impersonating law enforcement in certain situations, if those rumors are true from Columbia. So, it’s important that we hold ICE back.”
Senior leaders should add their voices to the chorus of federal agents being made to follow the law and stay away from sensitive areas, such as churches, schools, universities and hospitals, Feldblum said.
Shipman, in his statement, called ICE out of doubt.
“Let me be clear—misrepresenting identity and other facts to gain access to a residential property is a violation of protocol,” Shipman said. “All law enforcement agencies—including DHS and ICE—are responsible for following established legal and ethical standards. And we expect those standards to be respected.”
Pacheco said it’s time for higher ed administrators and trustees statewide to send a message to lawmakers and government officials: “This is unacceptable. This cannot happen again.”
