ICE arrests Columbia pro-Hamas student, another self-deports

(JNS) Federal agents arrested a Columbia University student from Judea and Samaria, who the government said was previously arrested for taking part in “pro-Hamas protests” at the university, for overstaying her visa. Another Columbia student, an Indian national accused of “advocating for violence and terrorism,” self-deported, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Friday.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” stated Kristi Noem, the U.S. secretary of homeland security. “When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. I am glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self-deport.”

CBP is U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Homeland Security Department shared video footage that it said depicts Ranjani Srinivasan, who “entered the United States on a F-1 student visa as doctoral student in urban planning at Columbia University,” leaving the country on March 11.

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“Srinivasan was involved in activities supporting Hamas, a terrorist organization,” the department stated. “On March 5, 2025, the Department of State revoked her visa.”

Homeland Security Investigations officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Newark office arrested Leqaa Kordia “for overstaying her expired F-1 student visa,” Homeland Security stated. “Her visa terminated on Jan. 26, 2022, for lack of attendance. Previously, in April 2024, Kordia was arrested for her involvement in pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University in New York City.”

On Thursday, Katrina Armstrong, Columbia’s interim president, stated that she was “heartbroken” to tell the school’s community that “we had federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security in two university residences tonight.”

“No one was arrested or detained. No items were removed, and no further action was taken,” she said. “Federal agents from the DHS served Columbia University with two judicial search warrants signed by a federal magistrate judge authorizing DHS to enter non-public areas of the university and conduct searches of two student rooms.”

“The university is obligated to comply with the law,” she stated. “Our university public safety was present at all times.” She added that she understands “the immense stress our community is under. Despite the unprecedented challenges, Columbia University will remain a place where the pursuit of knowledge is cherished and fiercely protected, where the rule of law and due process is respected and never taken for granted and where all members of our community are valued and able to thrive.”

During a Friday press conference in Charlevoix, Canada, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “in the days to come, you should expect more visas will be revoked as we identify people that we should never have allowed in because they lied to us.”

“When they said they were coming here to be students, they didn’t say they were coming here to occupy university buildings and vandalize them and tear them apart and hold campuses hostage,” Rubio said. “If they had told us that, we would never have given them a student visa.”

“Now that they’ve done it, we will revoke those visas,” he added. “As the days go on, every time we have a chance to revoke them, we will, because it’s not in the national interest of the United States for them to be here.”