On February 26, 2026, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials entered an apartment building owned by Columbia University (CU) under false pretenses and without a warrant and detained Elmina (Ellie) Aghayeva, an undergraduate senior majoring in neuroscience and politics.
Originally from Azerbaijan, Aghayeva entered the US on a student visa. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, her visa was terminated in 2016 after she failed to attend classes. She apparently did not hold a valid visa at the time of her arrest.
CU President Clare Shipman announced in a statement that five plainclothes and armed immigration agents arrived at the apartment building around 6:30 am demanding to be let inside. They reportedly told the building superintendent that they were searching for a missing child. At Aghayeva’s door, they repeated the claim, showing photos of the alleged missing child. Inside the apartment, they detained Aghayeva. When a CU public security officer asked for a warrant, the ICE agents failed to provide one. CU policy requires that police have a judicial warrant in order to access private university property, including housing facilities and classrooms. A lawyer for Aghayeva filed an emergency petition that same day, requesting that she be released from detention. Aghayeva was released later that afternoon, but remained in removal proceedings.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about government security agents entering private university property under false pretenses and without a warrant. Such actions undermine institutional autonomy and violate university protocols designed to ensure a safe, secure environment for all members of the academic community. State authorities have an obligation to respect the integrity of private spaces and to ensure that law enforcement actions on campus are conducted with transparency and in accordance with the law.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/nyregion/columbia-university-ice-student.html
https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/02/26/ice-agents-impersonated-nypd-officers-searching-for-a-missing-child-to-arrest-elmina-aghayeva-gs-26-shipman-says/
https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/03/02/ice-agents-in-aghayevas-detainment-were-armed-shipman-says-at-university-senate-plenary/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/26/columbia-student-detained-federal-agents
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/26/g-s1-111684/columbia-student-arrested-ice-missing-person
https://president.columbia.edu/news/important-update-columbia-university