\n<\/p>\n
Since President Trump took office with the promise of mass deportations, college leaders have consistently gotten the same advice from lawyers, consultants and Democratic state officials: If federal immigration agents try to enter nonpublic spaces on campus, ask for a judicial warrant or subpoena. Campuses have disseminated this guidance to staff and students in communitywide messages and resources for months. <\/p>\n
But on Thursday, Columbia University tried that, and it didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
Five Department of Homeland Security agents gained access to a campus residential building by pretending to be searching for a missing child, Claire Shipman, acting president of Columbia, said in a statement Thursday night. A university security camera captured footage of the agents showing photos of the alleged missing child in the hallway. <\/p>\n
They then detained Ellie Aghayeva, a student from Azerbaijan, in her apartment. A public safety officer \u201casked multiple times for a warrant, which was not produced, and asked for time to call his boss, which was not given,\u201d Shipman said. Aghayeva was released Thursday afternoon, after a conversation between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Trump.<\/p>\n
A DHS spokesperson denied that agents misrepresented themselves in a statement to Inside Higher Ed<\/em>. According to DHS, agents \u201cverbally identified themselves and visibly wore badges around their necks,\u201d and a building manager and Aghayeva\u2019s roommate allowed agents into the apartment. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement \u201cplaced her in removal proceedings\u201d and released her while she waits for a hearing. Her student visa was allegedly terminated in 2016 for failing to attend classes. <\/p>\n The spokesperson did not address claims that ICE refused to produce a warrant.<\/p>\n The incident raises new questions for college leaders about how to prepare their campuses for visits from ICE agents and protect their immigrant and international students: If ICE throws out the rules, what does that mean for higher ed\u2019s playbook?<\/p>\n Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents\u2019 Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said, \u201cWhat happened, as it\u2019s been described, is deeply concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen federal agents enter residential buildings under reported misrepresentation, it creates fear and instability in what should be one of the safest places on campus,\u201d she said. Aghayeva\u2019s detainment shows that \u201ceven when campuses follow protocols and the law, that doesn\u2019t mean immigration officers will do so.\u201d<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Feldblum believes the guidance given to higher ed leaders should hold.<\/p>\n As far as she\u2019s concerned, Columbia did all the right things to prepare for ICE: It differentiated between public and private spaces on campus and had protocols in place for demanding to see a judicial warrant if ICE tried to enter a private area. In the aftermath of the incident, the university ramped up campus safety measures, including increased public safety patrols around residential buildings and clarifying that residential staff should not allow law enforcement in during nonemergency situations without guidance from university public safety and the Office of General Counsel.<\/p>\n \u201cJust because federal immigration officers are not following the law does not mean that campuses do not need to have protocols in place,\u201d Feldblum said, \u201cbecause what we learned from Columbia\u00a0\u2026 is that when campuses have the protocols in place, then they are far better positioned to respond quickly when something\u2019s happening and to support their students when a detention takes place.\u201d<\/p>\n The university offered legal services to Aghayeva and \u201cstarted work immediately to gain her release\u201d with \u201chelp and support\u201d from the mayor and governor, according to statements from Shipman.<\/p>\n Feldblum emphasized that institutions need to focus on what they can control.<\/p>\n \u201cInstitutions can control their internal procedures, even when they can\u2019t control what federal immigration enforcement tactics are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Gaby Pacheco, president and CEO of TheDream.US, a scholarship provider for undocumented students, said campuses need to teach all staff members and students\u2014not just administrators and public safety officers\u2014when and how to ask for a judicial warrant, if they haven\u2019t already. She also encouraged immigrant and international students to have the name and phone number of an immigration attorney memorized should anything like this happen to them.<\/p>\n This incident is the result of \u201can agency that has no oversight\u00a0\u2026 that has now way too much power to lie\u201d and is \u201cgoing after individuals in an illegal and unlawful way\u201d with insufficient training, Pacheco said. \u201cCollege campuses, unfortunately, from students to professors and staff, are now going to have to be vigilant and ensure that they protect each other, because we cannot trust our government to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Pacheco also praised Columbia for providing legal support services to Aghayeva, noting it\u2019s \u201cthe least\u201d institutions can do when \u201cone student [is up] against the United States government and the Department of Homeland Security.\u201d<\/p>\n In an environment where federal agents don\u2019t always follow the law, advocates for immigrant students argued it\u2019s important to pair these campus protocols and services with demands that ICE officers be held accountable by federal lawmakers.<\/p>\n Aghayeva\u2019s detainment comes at a time when Senate Democrats are blocking a bill that would provide additional funding for DHS, demanding reforms to immigration enforcement. And public school districts and university faculty members recently sued ICE over its policy of allowing immigration actions on or near public schools and college campuses. On Trump\u2019s second day in office, DHS rescinded protections for \u201csensitive areas,\u201d making campuses fair game for immigration enforcement actions. Since then, a number of detentions have occurred on or near campuses, including the arrests of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist, and R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University.<\/p>\n Justin Mazzola, deputy director of research at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement on Friday that \u201cICE has no place in or around schools\u2014period.\u201d<\/p>\n Mazzola told Inside Higher Ed<\/em> that colleges should put ICE preparation protocols in place and retrain staff on how to uphold them, but at the end of the day, \u201cit\u2019s really on ICE. They need to stop undermining the rule of law\u201d and lawmakers need to ensure \u201coversight and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt really does put students in a state of terror,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople aren\u2019t going to feel safe going to law enforcement if they\u2019re concerned that ICE is pretending to be law enforcement in certain situations, if those rumors are correct from Columbia. So, it\u2019s imperative that we rein in ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n Higher ed leaders should add their voices to the chorus that federal agents be made to follow the law and keep away from sensitive zones, such as churches, schools, universities and hospitals, Feldblum said.<\/p>\n Shipman, in her statement, called out ICE in no uncertain terms. <\/p>\n \u201cLet me be clear\u2014misrepresenting identity and other facts to gain access to a residential building is a breach of protocol,\u201d Shipman said. \u201cAll law enforcement agencies\u2014including DHS and ICE\u2014are obligated to follow established legal and ethical standards. And we expect those standards to be respected.\u201d<\/p>\n Pacheco said it\u2019s time for higher ed administrators and trustees nationally to send a message to lawmakers and federal officials: \u201cThis is unacceptable. This cannot happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since President Trump took office with the promise of mass deportations, college leaders have consistently gotten the same advice from lawyers, consultants and Democratic state officials: If federal immigration agents try to enter nonpublic spaces on campus, ask for a judicial warrant or subpoena. Campuses have disseminated this guidance to staff and students in communitywide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[10499,2466,241,5838,3982],"class_list":{"0":"post-45497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-campuses","9":"tag-ice","10":"tag-show","11":"tag-warrant","12":"tag-wont"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Revamping Protocols<\/h2>\n
Calling for Accountability<\/h2>\n