Columbia protester arrested for overstaying student visa as tensions grow on campus
The arrest of Leqaa Kordia follows the self-deportation of a Columbia doctoral student from India, Ranjani Srinivasan, whom DHS accused of supporting Hamas.
Federal agents arrested a Palestinian student who had taken part in protests at Columbia University last spring and had overstayed her student visa, officials said Friday.
The student, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was previously arrested for her participation in the protests. Her visa was terminated in January 2022 for lack of attendance, officials said.
Her arrest by immigration officers from the Newark, New Jersey, field office follows the self-deportation on Tuesday of a Columbia doctoral student from India, Ranjani Srinivasan, whom DHS accused of supporting Hamas. The State Department had revoked her visa a week earlier.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”
The latest arrest comes as students at Columbia say they are fearful that they and their friends could be unjustly targeted amid a tense climate on campus, hours after federal agents executed search warrants on two university residences.
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