Photo: Dana Edwards/Reuters
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it has arrested a second Columbia University student as part of the Trump administration’s long-promised crackdown on college protests against the war in Gaza. The move comes just days after federal agents arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at the university and green card holder who led protests there last year.
In a press release, DHS said that Leqaa Kordia was arrested for overstaying her student visa. The agency said that her visa was terminated in January 2022 for “lack of attendance.” DHS said that Kordia, who is Palestinian descent and is from the West Bank, was previously arrested last April for taking part in Gaza protests on Columbia’s campus.
The agency also said that another Columbia student, Ranjani Srinivasan, self-deported . According to DHS, Srinivasan, an Indian national, entered the country on a student visa to attend Columbia as a doctoral student studying urban planning, but had her visa revoked this month. The agency also released a video that it claims shows Srinivasan using the CBP Home App to self-deport.
Echoing the rhetoric of President Trump, DHS claiming without evidence the two students were supporters of Hamas, and, at one point, misspelling the organization’s name as “Hammas” in the press release. “It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. 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,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
On Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear that this round of student visa revocations will not be the last. “In the days to come, you should expect more visas will be revoked as we identify people that we should have never allowed in,” he said, according to Reuters.
As Trump has moved to quell college protests since taking office, his administration has continued to escalate its actions against Columbia University. On Thursday, Katrina Armstrong, the university’s interim president, said DHS agents with judicially approved warrants had searched two student residences on campus. “No one was arrested or detained. No items were removed, and no further action was taken,” she said.
Last week, the federal government announced that it would be revoking $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia, alleging that the university has failed to address anti-semitism on its campus. The administration then laid out additional steps for Columbia to take in order to potentially get those funds back, calling for enforcement of its disciplinary policies, a mask ban among other requests.
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