Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested and detained student Ellie Adhayeva at Columbia University early on Thursday after entering her student dorm under “false pretenses”.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed his concern over the abrupt arrest on his X account.
“Just got off the phone with President Trump. In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Adhayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” the statement read.
Aghayeva is a senior from Azerbaijan studying neuroscience and political science. She is also a content creator who has garnered a considerably large social media fanbase, with nearly 113,000 TikTok followers and 107,000 Instagram followers. On her platforms, she shares “day in the life” and advice videos as an immigrant student navigating an Ivy League college education.
In a public story published to Azerbaijan’s official Instagram account at about 2:00 p.m. PST — nearly 12 hours after she was detained — Aghayeva reconnected with her fans.
“I am so grateful for every one of you. I just got out a little while ago. I am safe and okay,” she said. “I … [am in] complete shock over what happened and my phone is blowing up with calls from reporters. I need a little bit of time to process everything.”
Roughly 2,800 miles away, USC students consider what would happen if federal agents came to their dormitory — and whether they trust the university to protect them.
“I don’t know if I would,” said Lina Saley, a freshman neuroscience major.
Saley said she sometimes feels like the university doesn’t “put their students first.”
“I just couldn’t see them doing that at USC because I feel like sometimes that USC is a business and not a university,” she said.
Some students, like junior Julia Ho, were more blunt.
“No, I don’t [trust USC], because the university has already stated that they would comply with DHS and ICE if anything were to happen.”
The public relations major said, “It’s on their website, to my knowledge, that they would comply with whatever the government tells them to. So I don’t think they would care.”
USC’s Office of Ethics and Compliance website includes a compliance policy, which describes the school’s commitment to “effective compliance oversight, including the designation of a compliance officer to oversee compliance efforts.”
California politicians also weighed in. Former Speaker of the California State Assembly and gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa reiterated his proposed ICE accountability plan in a statement on X.
I can’t believe this - DHS agents detaining a COLLEGE STUDENT without a warrant. This is exactly why I created my ICE Accountability plan, so that federal agents are held to the SAME STANDARDS as state law enforcement. ICE agents who abuse their power will have real consequences.…
— Antonio Villaraigosa (@AVillaraigosa) February 26, 2026
Columbia University has been targeted several times by the second Trump Administration since it began just over a year ago. The Ivy League institution was stripped of $400 million for its alleged failure to prevent anti-semitism. In a separate incident, student organizer Mahmoud Khalil was detained and held by ICE for over 100 days without just cause.
When asked for comment, the university directed Annenberg Media to its Office of Ethics and Compliance website.
The website contains no references to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, or any related policy.