Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia University student from Azerbaijan, had just shown her followers how she powers through a 10-hour study session inside the libraries of Columbia University. By the next morning, she would spend nearly as many hours in federal immigration detention.
The senior, an international student from Azerbaijan double majoring in neuroscience and political science, was taken into custody around 6:30 a.m. Thursday (US time) at a Columbia-owned residential building in New York City. Agents from the Department of Homeland Security detained her; roughly nine hours later, she announced on Instagram that she had been released.
What happened in between has become the subject of sharp dispute between university officials and federal authorities, and the latest flashpoint in a series of high-profile immigration actions involving students at the Ivy League campus.
A social media study star’s sudden detention
Aghayeva has built a following of more than 100,000 on Instagram, where she documents marathon study sessions, productivity routines and glimpses of campus life. On Wednesday night, she posted about an intensive, 10-hour stretch of exam preparation in the university library.
Early the next morning, she was in custody
She shared news of her detention in a stark Instagram post showing only a photo of her legs with the caption: “DHS illegally arrested me. Please help.” The post was later deleted.
After her release, she wrote that she was “safe and okay,” and on her way home. “I am in complete shock over what happened … I need a little bit of time to process everything I will come back soon. But please don’t worry.”
A friend, Sabah Bari, described Aghayeva as a “highly motivated” and “extremely intelligent” student, involved in campus organizations, academically accomplished and “very funny.” She is on track to graduate in May, Bari said.
Conflicting accounts of how agents entered the building
In a letter and later a video statement to the campus community, Columbia’s acting president Claire Shipman said federal agents misrepresented their purpose to gain entry to the residential building.
According to Shipman, the agents entered “without any kind of warrant” and used the pretense of searching for a “missing person.” Security cameras, she said, captured agents in the hallway showing photos of the alleged missing child.
A public safety officer arrived once “it became clear” the agents had misrepresented themselves. The officer “asked multiple times for a warrant, which was not produced, and asked for time to call his boss, which was not given,” she said.
Shipman emphasized that law enforcement must present a judicial warrant or subpoena to access non-public areas of the university, including residence halls and classrooms. An administrative warrant, she wrote, is not sufficient.
“All law enforcement agencies – including DHS and ICE – are obligated to follow established legal and ethical standards. And we expect those standards to be respected,” she said after Aghayeva’s release.
“This was a frightening and fast-moving situation and utterly unacceptable for our students and staff,” she added.
The Department of Homeland Security offered a sharply different account. In a statement, the agency said Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Aghayeva because she is an undocumented immigrant “whose student visa was terminated in 2016 under the Obama administration for failing to attend classes.”
“The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment. She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS,” the statement read.
When asked whether agents misrepresented themselves as searching for a missing person, the agency said, “Homeland Security Investigators verbally identified themselves and visibly wore badges around their necks. They did NOT and would not identify themselves as NYPD.”
A DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said Aghayeva had been placed in removal proceedings and was “released while she waits for her hearing.”
A mayor’s intervention at the White House
Aghayeva’s detention unfolded as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was in Washington meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss a housing proposal.
Mamdani said he raised Aghayeva’s case directly with the president.
“I shared my concerns,” he wrote on X, adding that Trump told him in a follow-up call, “She will be released imminently.”
Other New York officials condemned the detention
Gov. Kathy Hochul said, “Let’s be clear about what happened: ICE agents didn’t have the proper warrant, so they lied to gain access to a student’s private residence.” Hochul has previously proposed legislation that would bar ICE from entering sensitive locations such as schools and dormitories.
Rep. Jerry Nadler and Assemblymember Micah Lasher said in a joint statement they were “disgusted and outraged,” calling the agents’ actions dangerous and fear-inducing.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a former undocumented immigrant, said students and faculty “should not fear for their safety in their dorm rooms, the classroom, or anywhere else on campus,” describing the episode as part of what he called the Trump administration’s “lawless actions.”
The American Civil Liberties Union in New York also weighed in, saying, “While details are still emerging, reporting suggests ICE agents have again flouted the law to rip yet another Columbia University student from campus as part of the Trump administration’s continued attack on universities and immigrants.”
Part of a broader crackdown at Columbia
Aghayeva’s arrest is the latest in a string of high-profile detentions involving Columbia students.
Nearly a year ago, Palestinian activist and Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil was taken into custody at his campus apartment. Khalil spent more than 100 days in detention, missing the birth of his first child, and now faces the possibility of rearrest and deportation to Algeria or Syria. Born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, Khalil had played a prominent role negotiating on behalf of pro-Palestinian protesters at the university.
In March 2025, another Columbia student, Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national and Fulbright recipient, was detained amid protests at Hamilton Hall. Though she maintains she did not participate in the protest, she said she was targeted for exercising her right to free speech and ultimately left the country out of fear of being taken into custody.
DHS officials identified her as one of several Columbia students targeted for immigration action under the Trump administration’s crackdown on international students involved in protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.