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Federal agents detained a Columbia University student early Thursday after Department of Homeland Security officers allegedly gained access to a university-owned residence by presenting a fake missing person poster of a 5-year-old. As news broke of the student, Ellie Aghayeva, and her detention, students and community members rallied en masse demanding her release and an end to immigration enforcement on campus. Due to restrictions implemented by the university in response to pro-Palestine protests, the students were unable to protest on campus proper, but instead took to nearby streets.
Aghayeva was released Thursday afternoon, shortly after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani brought up her case during a meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss housing. "For that decision to be quickly flipped is remarkable because it shows the power of opposition, but also how loose and flippant these arrests are, and how maybe unnecessary they are," says Zeteo's Prem Thakker, who has been reporting on the case.
Columbia's active response, including its legal support of Aghayeva, marked a departure from previous high-profile immigration arrests of its students. Mohsen Mahdawi, a former Columbia University student who last year was also detained by DHS, says Aghayeva's arrest in campus housing is a direct result of the university administration's abdication of its responsibility to protect its students. "Columbia University administration did not have the backbone, in fact, to file any lawsuits against the Trump administration for violating basic rights," says Mahdawi. "This is actually what the Trump administration intended to do, which is to fracture liberal institutions and turn the administrations against their students."
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During a visit to Texas, President Trump made clear that he would be driving home his depiction of Democrats as out of step ahead of the elections in November.
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The former president sat for hours of questioning by members of both parties, in an appearance that Democrats signaled they would use as a precedent to force President Trump to do the same.
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The president expressed his negative view of the status of nuclear talks as he weighed military strikes against Iran.
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The appearance in New York marks the first time a former president has been compelled to testify before Congress under a subpoena.
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(First column, 8th story, link)
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Our reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs examines the context of a moment in the State of the Union speech when President Trump turned to a favorite tactic on immigration.
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Federal officials had misrepresented themselves to gain access, according to the university. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said President Trump had told him the student would be let go.
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Many Democratic lawmakers boycotted Tuesday's State of the Union address to attend alternative events, including our guest Congressmember Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, who gave the Working Families Party response to President Trump. "The president is disgraceful, and I don't think it's worth our time to give him an audience," says Lee, who encourages opponents to keep challenging his falsehoods. "When you take away the lie, there is no foundation for President Trump."
Lee also challenges Trump's claims about non-citizen voting, which experts say is exceedingly rare, and the decision by Republican House leadership to deny honors to the late Reverend Jesse Jackson at the Capitol following the civil rights icon's death.
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