NEW YORK — Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered a residential building owned by Columbia University early Thursday and detained a student, the school said in a letter to the campus.

Claire Shipman, the university’s acting president, said Columbia officials believed that the federal agents had misrepresented themselves to gain access to the building, saying that they were searching for a “missing person.”

“We are working to gather more details,” she wrote.

The student who was detained, Ellie Aghayeva, was a senior majoring in neuroscience and political science, according to a statement released by her friends to a faculty organization, the American Association of University Professors.

She is an international student with a visa, the statement said. She appeared to have been taken from her Columbia-owned apartment on West 121st Street.

Aghayeva posted a one-second video on her popular Instagram account showing her in the back of a vehicle with the caption: “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.”

Her detainment appears to represent a significant escalation of immigration enforcement on Columbia’s campus after months of relative quiet. Mahmoud Khalil, who had recently graduated from Columbia, was detained in the lobby of his university dormitory building in March 2025.

Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency was preparing a statement about the most recent operation that would be released soon.

Columbia did not provide details about the identity of the detained student or the location of the building where the student had been arrested. In her statement, Shipman said that the detention had taken place about 6:30 a.m. and that the university was working to reach the student’s family and to provide legal support.

All law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant to access private areas on Columbia’s campus, including housing facilities and classrooms. An administrative warrant is not sufficient. It appeared that a judicial warrant was not used in this case, according to Columbia.

Shipman said she would provide more information as it became available.

Julie Menin, the speaker of the City Council, said she had been briefed on the detention and had issued a joint statement with Shaun Abreu, the council member representing the district that includes Columbia, condemning the action.

“ICE has no place in our schools and universities,” they wrote. “These activities do not make our city or country safer, but rather drive mistrust and danger.”

Khalil, who had a green card, was released from detention on bail but is still fighting deportation. About a month later, a Columbia student, Mohsen Mahdawi, was detained when he showed up for a citizenship interview in Vermont. An immigration judge last week blocked his deportation.

A Columbia student from India, Ranjani Srinivasan, fled to Canada in March after federal officers showed up at her university apartment building searching for her.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Sharon Otterman/Marco Postigo Storel
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