The Latest Columbia Student Detained by ICE
At Columbia University, in front of wrought-iron entrance gates that have been locked for more than two years now, a graduate student named Lily Levitt stood next to a box of whistles as melting snow pooled around her. “Free whistles!” she shouted. “Free safety whistles! ICE was on campus today!” Levitt wore a brown suède coat and gloves; her cheeks were pink. “I’ve been out here for about two hours,” she said. “People aren’t as angry as you would think.”
Earlier that day, agents from the Department of Homeland Security had entered a Columbia-owned apartment and detained a student, Elmina (Ellie) Aghayeva, claiming that, after “failing to attend classes,” her student visa had been terminated back in 2016. Aghayeva, a neuroscience and political-science double major from Azerbaijan, is also a college-life-style influencer, often posting videos—“I tried Einstein’s study routine!”—on Instagram, where she has more than a hundred thousand followers. That morning, she’d posted a photo of what looked like her legs in the back of a car, with the words “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.” It was almost exactly a year after ICE arrested Mahmoud Khalil while he was living in university housing. (After being held for more than a hundred days, Khalil was released on bail but still faces potential deportation.)
Levitt, a student at Columbia’s Teachers College, was in New Jersey teaching when she heard about Aghayeva. “I wasn’t able to focus for the rest of the day,” she said. She had missed the emergency campus-wide rally at noon but still wanted to do her part. Hundreds of students and locals had held up signs with messages such as “No one is illegal on stolen land” and “ICE Lies.”
According to the university, the agents who went to Aghayeva’s building had falsely identified themselves as police. They allegedly were equipped with a photograph of a five-year-old girl and said they were searching for a missing child. (D.H.S. has denied the use of these tactics.) “Our security is so lax over here,” Gianna Baker, an engineering student in a backward cap and a Red Bull bomber jacket, said. “It is super easy to get into these apartments. You’re supposed to register guests, and you don’t even have to do that.”
The main campus, however, is a fortress of checkpoints, with tents stationed outside entrances and guards galore. “I haven’t even been able to let my mom in,” Levitt said.
“Can I have a whistle?” a woman with gray hair asked, approaching the box. Levitt eagerly offered her one. “Know the whistle code!” she shouted. “If the whistle sound is broken, it means ICE is nearby!”
Many students were unfamiliar with the whistle code but recognized the potential need for it. A few doors down from where Aghayeva had been detained, a drama student said that her peers were on edge: “My friend brought all of her documents to class, just in case.” Others were less worried about getting detained themselves. “I think it depends on the country you’re from and its politics,” a student from Saudi Arabia said. “Saudi has a good relationship to the U.S.” She wasn’t sure about Azerbaijan. Another international student, from Iran, said, “I know I’ve done everything legally. I’m a permanent resident.” (As is Mahmoud Khalil.)
At a bar not far from Aghayeva’s dorm, a music-education scholar was perturbed, despite having been born in California. As a first-generation son of Mexican immigrants, he said, “I check the boxes for everything they hate.” ICE is on his mind, throughout his daily motions. “Like, can I speak in Spanish in public? I think I have to,” he said, with gentle defiance.
His classmate Rachel, a Connecticut native, nodded. Grasping a glass of white wine, she said, “I listen to these seventies folk artists, like Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, and it’s, like, Why can’t we all just get along?”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is more of a hip-hop fan, but he channelled Seeger when he visited President Donald Trump on the day of Aghayeva’s detainment. They discussed housing—Mamdani gave Trump a fake newspaper with the headline “Trump to City: Let’s Build”—and the Mayor raised Aghayeva’s case, urging for her freedom. Trump, seemingly smitten once again with Mamdani, relented: at around 4 P.M., Aghayeva posted on Instagram that she had been released, and that she was shaken but “safe and okay.”
The story had moved so quickly that some locals didn’t know that anything had happened at all. On Aghayeva’s block, a frizzy-haired guy recalled seeing police activity earlier. “But I didn’t know what was going on.” At a nearby bodega, the man behind the register was also unaware of the news. “That’s crazy,” he said, with a nervous smile.
As for Levitt, she eventually left her spot at Columbia’s gates—for now. She was disappointed with how few whistles she’d given out. “But I can’t say I’m super surprised,” she said. “There’s a good amount of fear on our campus.” Perhaps students were too afraid to take a whistle. She would’ve lingered, but she sensed nearby officers getting antsy. “I have more things that I need to do,” she said. “So I don’t want to be arrested tonight.” ♦