On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security announced 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 a green-card holder who led protests there last year. In a press release, the DHS said Leqaa Kordia was arrested for overstaying her student visa. The agency said her visa had been terminated in January 2022 for “lack of attendance.” The DHS said Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, had previously been arrested last April for taking part in Gaza protests on Columbia’s campus. The agency also said another Columbia student, Ranjani Srinivasan, self-deported.
On Friday, DHS issued a release on two Columbia students. Officials say one student, a Palestinian woman from the West Bank, was arrested by ICE HSI Newark officers for allegedly overstaying her expired F-1 visa. Back in April 2024, the woman had been arrested for her involvement in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, DHS said. DHS says the other student, a citizen of India, entered the U.S. on an F-1 student visa as a doctoral student in urban planning at Columbia, allegedly got involved in activities supporting "Hamas." Her visa was revoked earlier this month. DHS says it has video showing her use the CBP app to self-deport less than a week later.
A second protester who took part in anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University has been nabbed by immigration officials, who also revoked the visa of another student “for advocating for violence and terrorism,” sources said Friday. Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian who hails from the West Bank, was busted by Homeland Security agents Thursday for alleged immigration violations related to overstaying on an expired student visa, the sources said. Kordia — who was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark, New Jersey — was first arrested in April 2024 for taking part in one of the protests on Columbia’s campus while overstaying on her twice-canceled student visa, according to the sources.
