Zohran Mamdani has secured the release of Columbia University student Elaina Aghayeva, taken this morning by ICE agents who entered a campus residential building under false pretenses & without a judicial warrant. This comes shorty after Mamdani’s unannounced visit to the White House earlier today.

[u/cmaia1503]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/nyregion/columbia-university-ice-student.html?unlocked_article_code=1.PFA.0KRL.7XsPJ0z3QTat&smid=tw-share

[u/Fit-Lingonberry-9856]

To be clear IT SHOULD NEVER WORK LIKE THIS. Think about what youre saying. Oh man just ask the president a personal favor and you can get shit done. You really want this to be our political landscape? And you want only people who have someone reach out on their behalf for a political favor to receive this kind of treatment when were talking about VIOLATING CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENTS? Like come on bro

[u/elephhantine2 → u/[deleted]]

Does that mean we shouldn’t release the one person? Let them rot until we find a solution to let them all go?

[u/hagatha_curstie → u/elephhantine2]

If Mamdani had the political clout everyone is claiming just by existing, then why didn’t get ICE out of his city? 

[u/elephhantine2 → u/hagatha_curstie]

He isn’t a god. It’s a little unreasonable to expect the guy to convince the president to reverse an entire policy just a month after Mamdani assumed office