A young student’s detention, a mayor’s Oval Office advocacy, and a presidential phone call that changed everything
A Student Detained, a Mayor in Washington, and a Phone Call
On the morning of February 26, 2026, federal Department of Homeland Security agents entered a Columbia University residential building and detained a student named Elmina Aghayeva, a senior in the School of General Studies. Columbia’s acting president said DHS agents made “misrepresentations to gain entry to the building” — a charge that the university made publicly and that drew immediate condemnation from civil liberties advocates.
By afternoon, Aghayeva was free. The chain of events that led to her release passed directly through the Oval Office of the White House, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani was simultaneously pitching a housing deal to President Donald Trump. When Mamdani learned of the detention during or around the time of his meeting, he raised it directly with the president. Trump called Mamdani after the meeting concluded to say Aghayeva would be released “imminently.” She was freed a short time later, according to multiple news organizations and confirmed by the Columbia University Spectator.
What We Know About Elmina Aghayeva
Aghayeva, identified in reporting as a GS ’26 student — meaning she was expected to graduate in 2026 — was detained without prior warning at her campus residence. Details about the specific legal basis for her detention were not publicly disclosed by DHS. Columbia University publicly challenged the legality of the entry, with its acting president stating that agents had used misrepresentations to gain access to the residential building — a claim that, if accurate, would raise serious Fourth Amendment and institutional autonomy concerns.
The timing of the detention — the same morning that Mamdani was in Washington meeting with Trump — created the conditions for an unusual form of real-time advocacy. The mayor’s team confirmed that Mamdani raised Aghayeva’s case directly in the Oval Office. He also handed Trump a list of four additional students detained by immigration authorities in New York City, with a request from his chief of staff that the president consider dismissing their cases.
The Broader Pattern at Columbia
Aghayeva’s detention was not the first time federal immigration enforcement had reached into the Columbia University community. The university became a focal point of campus activism during the 2024 academic year, and the Trump administration’s subsequent crackdown on student visa holders and campus activists at institutions across the country has created an atmosphere of fear among international students and their families nationwide.
Civil liberties organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union have documented the chilling effect of immigration enforcement actions on academic freedom and campus life. The targeting of students at residential buildings — particularly when access is obtained through alleged misrepresentation — tests the boundaries of due process and institutional privacy protections that universities have historically maintained.
The question of whether universities can or should resist federal immigration enforcement on their campuses is not new. But the specific circumstances of Aghayeva’s detention — the alleged misrepresentation at the door, the speed of the arrest, the absence of public notice of the legal basis for detention — raised questions that advocates and legal scholars were already analyzing by the time she was released Thursday afternoon.
Mamdani’s Immigration Advocacy: A Pattern of Direct Engagement
Thursday’s intervention was consistent with Mamdani’s stated approach to immigration enforcement in New York City. His administration has maintained New York City’s status as a sanctuary city, limiting NYPD cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. At the same time, Mamdani has chosen direct engagement with the Trump White House rather than purely oppositional posturing.
The release of Aghayeva is the most concrete result of that strategy to date. Critics of engagement argue that sitting across from Trump normalizes his administration’s immigration agenda. Supporters of the approach note that Aghayeva went home because Mamdani was in the room — and that press releases and protests do not produce the same outcome.
Both arguments have merit. The tension between moral opposition and pragmatic engagement is not new in political life, and reasonable people can disagree about where the right balance lies. What is not disputable is that on February 26, 2026, a Columbia University student who had been detained by federal agents in the morning was sleeping in her own bed by evening, because a mayor raised her case in the Oval Office and a president picked up the phone.
What Happens to the Other Four Students
Mamdani’s office confirmed that he handed Trump a list of four additional detained students along with Aghayeva’s case. As of Thursday evening, there was no public confirmation that those cases had been resolved. The mayor’s chief of staff asked the president to “consider dismissing” them — a request, not a promise, and the outcome remained unclear.
For families of detained students and immigrant New Yorkers watching the news, Thursday’s events offered a complicated message: direct access to the president can produce results, but it is not a systemic solution. The Immigration Advocates Network and organizations like the National Immigration Law Center provide legal resources and know-your-rights information for immigrants facing enforcement actions — resources that remain essential regardless of what any individual political intervention produces.
The Aghayeva case will likely be studied as an example of mayoral advocacy at the intersection of local governance and federal power. Whether it represents a model or an exception depends on whether the relationship between Mamdani and Trump continues to produce results beyond the housing and immigration issues addressed on February 26 — and whether those results extend to New Yorkers who do not happen to have their cases raised in the Oval Office.
