Elmina Aghayeva was detained using a missing-child pretext — the mayor went straight to the president
Federal Agents, a Child’s Photo, and a Dormitory Door
On the morning of February 26, 2026, federal immigration agents knocked on the door of a Columbia University dormitory building. According to the university’s acting president, Claire Shipman, the agents showed residents a photograph of a child and told them they were searching for a missing person. Once inside, they proceeded to the apartment of Elmina “Ellie” Aghayeva, a senior at Columbia’s School of General Studies and a citizen of Azerbaijan, and placed her in immigration custody. Attorneys for Aghayeva confirmed the account. A DHS spokesperson denied any misrepresentation, stating the agents “did not and would not identify themselves as NYPD,” while declining to address the missing-child claim specifically.
What followed in the next several hours was a compressed and deeply revealing sequence of events: a mayor already en route to Washington raised her case directly with the president of the United States, and by mid-afternoon Aghayeva was free. That is an extraordinary outcome. It is also, as advocates were quick to point out, a terrifyingly fragile model for protecting people in similar circumstances.
Mamdani Raises the Case in the Oval Office
Mayor Zohran Mamdani had traveled to Washington that morning for a previously unannounced meeting with President Trump focused on housing investment at Sunnyside Yards in Queens. But when news of Aghayeva’s detention reached his team as he was en route, the agenda expanded. During their Oval Office conversation, Mamdani raised her case directly with Trump, described the alleged use of deceptive entry tactics as a serious concern, and asked the president to order her release. Trump called the mayor shortly after the meeting ended to say Aghayeva would be released immediately. She confirmed her release on Instagram at approximately 3:45 p.m. that day. Mamdani also provided Chief of Staff Susie Wiles with a handwritten list of four additional Columbia students in federal immigration custody, asking the administration to consider their cases as well.
Deceptive Entry and the Constitution
The method allegedly used to gain entry to Aghayeva’s dormitory building has drawn sharp criticism from civil liberties attorneys and constitutional scholars. Under the Fourth Amendment, a warrantless entry into a private residence requires the voluntary and knowing consent of an occupant. Courts have held that consent obtained through deception — for instance, by claiming a false purpose for entry — may not constitute valid legal consent. Using a photograph of a missing child to gain access to an apartment building where immigration enforcement was the actual goal raises serious questions about whether the agents operated within the bounds of the law, regardless of whether Aghayeva herself had any legal vulnerability. The ACLU of New York and other organizations were tracking the incident closely.
Columbia’s acting president said the university has video footage showing agents presenting the child’s photograph to residents in the hallway. A DHS official disputed the school’s characterization but did not provide alternative footage or a detailed account of how entry was obtained. The discrepancy remains unresolved. Columbia stated it would continue to review the circumstances and evaluate any legal options available to the institution in response to what it described as a misuse of access.
The Limits of One Mayor’s Reach
Aghayeva’s release was a concrete win for Mamdani, and he was right to use whatever access he had to secure it. But the episode also exposed the structural impossibility of relying on mayoral access to the president as a general model for protecting immigrant New Yorkers. The city is home to hundreds of thousands of undocumented and conditionally documented immigrants. Federal enforcement is active. ICE arrests in New York have increased significantly since the start of the second Trump administration. Not every detained person has a mayor who happens to have a White House meeting scheduled the same afternoon. Not every family will receive a presidential phone call.
Advocates at the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society have been calling for systemic protections — clearer city policies on cooperation between NYPD and federal immigration authorities, expanded legal representation for detained immigrants, and stronger sanctuary enforcement — rather than case-by-case interventions. Mamdani has taken steps on some of these fronts since taking office, but advocates say more comprehensive action is needed.
For information on immigrant rights in enforcement encounters, see the ACLU immigrant rights guide. For Fourth Amendment analysis, see the Cornell Law Fourth Amendment overview. For data on immigration enforcement in NYC, see the National Immigration Forum. For NYC sanctuary policies, visit NYC immigrant affairs.
