Columbia student detention tests universities’ immigration playbook

The incident shows even colleges with comprehensive immigration and law enforcement policies can’t account for government officials not following the rules.

Columbia University neuroscience student Ellie Aghayeva is escorted to her apartment with her face covered, after being detained by federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday morning. | Ryan Murphy/Getty Images

The recent detainment of a Columbia University student is showing just how much harder it is getting for colleges to protect their students from President Donald Trump’s immigration raids.

Universities have spent the past year strengthening their policies for how to deal with law enforcement officials who come on their campuses looking for their international students, who have increasingly been targeted for deportation.

But the shortcomings of those protections came into stark focus with Ellie Aghayeva’s detainment Thursday, which set off a political firestorm that put New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the phone with Trump.

© Politico