On Thursday, February 26, at 6:30 a.m., Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Elmina “Ellie” Aghayeva. She is from Azerbaijan and a senior at Columbia University, who is studying neuroscience and political science.
By mid-afternoon, though, she was free. What happened in between? Well, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took a trip to Washington, D.C. He then made a direct appeal to President Donald Trump for Aghayeva’s release.
“Just got off the phone with President Trump,” Mamdani wrote on X. “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,” he added.
The New York Times had reported that ICE agents had arrested Aghayeva after allegedly misrepresenting themselves to access a university building. Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, claimed that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents entered a university-owned residential building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side while acting like they were looking for a missing person.
View this post on Instagram
Aghayeva said from what appeared to be the back of a vehicle, “DHS illegally arrested me. Please help.”
By around 3:45 p.m., she confirmed she had been released. According to Harlem World Magazine, Mamdani traveled to Washington for a scheduled meeting with Trump focused on housing development in New York City. During the same meeting, he brought up Aghayeva’s case directly. Later, in a follow-up phone call, Trump informed Mamdani that she would be released.
The circumstances of the arrest are still being disputed. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal alleged on X that agents “impersonated New York Police Department (NYPD) with fake badges and a phony missing persons’ bulletin for a 5-year-old girl” to enter the building. However, a DHS spokesperson said agents did not pose as NYPD officers and were let in by Aghayeva’s roommate.
DHS also said Aghayeva’s student visa had been revoked in 2016 during the Obama administration for “failure to attend classes.” Her attorneys had also filed an emergency habeas corpus petition in the Southern District of New York.
Columbia University has a rule that requires law enforcement personnel to show a judicial warrant to enter non-public areas of the university. Shipman also stated that campus administrative warrants are not sufficient.
Columbia student Ellie Aghayeva, who was unlawfully detained by ICE earlier today, says she is “safe and okay” pic.twitter.com/UneoUACiWs
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 26, 2026
One day ago, there was an “ICE Off Campus” protest at Columbia, almost a year after ICE agents detained Mahmoud Khalil from university housing. Khalil is a former Columbia graduate student and Palestinian activist who spent more than 100 days in detention and is still fighting deportation. Aghayeva’s brief detention was thus part of a much larger political storm.
Reuters found that since October 2025, federal judges have ruled more than 4,400 times that the Trump administration detained immigrants unlawfully. And more than 20,000 habeas petitions have been filed since Trump took office. ICE detention numbers have shot up to almost 68,000 people, which is about a 75 percent increase from when Trump began his second term.
Mamdani’s supporters are celebrating Aghayeva’s release. One of them wrote on X, “Most mayors would’ve tweeted. Zohran called the president and got the student released before dinner.” Another called it “the type of leadership people deserve.”
One individual wrote, “I think Mamdani rules the country.”
