Mamdani Gets Trump to Release Columbia Student From ICE Detention 

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) announced on social media on Thursday that President Donald Trump agreed to release a Columbia student from ICE custody at his request.

“Just got off the phone with President Trump. In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” Mamdani wrote on X.

Mamdani shared in his post a New York Times article detailing the arrest of Aghayeva, which was titled, “ICE Agents Arrest Student Inside Columbia Building, School Says.”

“ICE arrested Elmina Aghayeva, an illegal alien from Azerbaijan, whose student visa was terminated in 2016 under the Obama administration for failing to attend classes,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement about the Monday morning incident. “The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment. She has no pending appeals or applications with D.H.S.” Aghayeva married a U.S. citizen in 2020, but her immigration status did not appear to have changed, according to early reports. Whether or not DHS will move to deport her also remained unclear.

The Times noted that Columbia protested the arrest on its campaign as “Columbia requires that law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant to access private areas on its campus, including housing facilities and classrooms. It appeared that a judicial warrant was not used in this case, according to Columbia.”

Mamdani met with Trump in the Oval Office earlier on Thursday, in what appeared to be a last-minute scheduling decision. Mamdani posted about the meeting, saying, “I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon. I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City.”

This is a developing story and has been updated.

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