Elmina “Ellie” Aghayeva, a senior at Columbia University, was briefly detained by federal immigration authorities on Thursday morning and released later the same day.
Aghayeva, who is originally from Azerbaijan, was taken into custody from a university-owned residential building in New York City. News of her detention quickly spread across campus, prompting protests by students and drawing swift political attention.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani intervened in the matter and raised her case directly with President Donald Trump. Hours after that outreach, Aghayeva was released.
Columbia University officials said federal immigration agents gained access to the residential building by telling security they were looking for a missing person. That claim was later cited in a court filing submitted by Aghayeva’s attorneys.
The Department of Homeland Security pushed back, rejecting the university’s account of how agents entered the property.
Soon after she was taken into custody, Aghayeva shared a message on Instagram that read, “DHS illegally arrested me. Please help.”
DHS also dismissed assertions from some state leaders that agents had identified themselves as New York City police officers during the operation.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he brought up Aghayeva’s detention during a previously scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, a meeting that was largely centered on housing policy. According to Mamdani, he later spoke to the president again by phone and said Trump agreed to have her released.
The White House did not issue a public statement on the matter.
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Mamdani also said he pressed the president to reconsider immigration proceedings against other current and former students who are facing possible deportation tied to campus protests over the war in Gaza. There has been no public response from the White House regarding those requests.
In a statement to Newsweek, a DHS official defended the agency’s actions, saying:
“ICE arrested Elmina (Ellie) Aghayeva, an illegal alien from Azerbaijan, 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The department’s claim that her student visa was revoked in 2016 stands in sharp contrast to statements from Aghayeva’s friends. In remarks shared through the American Association of University Professors, they maintained that she currently holds a valid visa.
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Aghayeva is pursuing major in neuroscience and political science at Columbia. Friends and professors say she is widely recognized on campus and across social media as a content creator who documents student life and her experience navigating college as an immigrant.
She has built a sizable online presence, with more than 113,000 followers on TikTok and over 107,000 on Instagram. University officials declined to discuss specifics related to her immigration status or enrollment record, citing privacy rules, according to Newsweek.
Neither federal authorities nor the university have publicly connected her to last year’s pro-Palestinian protests that disrupted Columbia’s campus.
Just hours after her release, Aghayeva returned to Instagram with a message to her followers:
“Hi guys. I am so grateful for everyone of you. I just got out a little while ago. I am safe and okay. In an uber otw back home. I am so sorry, but I am in complete shock over what happened and my phone is blowing up with calls from reporters. I need a bit of time to process everything. I will come back soon but please don’t worry.”
In an earlier update, she had written, “I am safe and okay,” adding that she was in “complete shock.”
Her brief detention and swift release have since sparked nationwide attention, prompting renewed debate over immigration enforcement involving university students and how visa disputes are handled.