New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani shared on social media that he had spoken directly with President Donald Trump about Elmina Aghayeva’s situation. The Columbia University student was detained by ICE on campus, earlier in the day.
Mamdani’s conversation with Trump comes after the mayor had met with the president. Although they are known to have political differences, the Republican and Democrat appeared to hit it off, speaking well of each other after the White House meeting. Since then, it has been reported that the two have spoken on calls. In the recent State of the Union address too, Trump mentioned that he spoke to Mamdani ‘a lot’.
Mamdani, today, shared details of his conversation with Trump in an X post.
What Mamdani and Trump spoke about
Mamdani on X wrote that in an earlier meeting he had shared ‘concerns’ about Aghayeva. The mayor added that Trump had assured him she’d be ‘released immediately.’
“In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” Mamdani shared.
Trump is yet to remark on the matter. Mamdani and Trump’s phone call appears to have worked, since Aghayeva then shared an update after her release. In an Instagram story, she wrote “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.”
The student added “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 little bit of time to process everything I will come back soon. But please don’t worry.”
What to know about the Elmina Aghayeva case
Aghayeva is an international student who is in her final year studying neuroscience and political science there. Columbia said immigration officials ‘made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building’ to arrest the student.
The university added that it did not allow federal agents into nonpublic buildings if they did not have a federal warrant.
“Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person.’ We are working to gather more details,” Claire Shipman, acting president of the school said.
“If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety. Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University’s response. Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the DHS in a statement to the Columbia Daily Spectator said that Aghayeva’s visa was terminated in 2016 as the student had failed to attend class.
“The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment. She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS,” they said.
