WASHINGTON, March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US immigration authorities have announced the arrest of a second activist who participated in pro-Palestinian protests last spring at Columbia University in New York City.
Leqaa Kordia, who is a Palestinian and from the West Bank, was arrested in New Jersey, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement.
The statement said another student, Ranjani Srinivasani, who has Indian citizenship, chose to “self-deport” by leaving the US earlier this week.
This follows the arrest of Columbia campus activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained on Saturday in New York before being flown to a jail in Louisiana.
The DHS statement says that Kordia had overstayed her student visa, which had been terminated in 2022 “for lack of attendance”. It did not say whether she had been attending Columbia or another institution.
She had previously been arrested in April 2024 for taking part in protests at Columbia University, according to DHS.
Srinivasan, a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University, had her visa revoked on March 5.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement.
“When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly alleged that pro-Palestinian activists, including Khalil, support Hamas, a group designated a terrorist organisation by the US.
Khalil, 30, is a Syrian-born Columbia graduate and US green card holder. Khalil’s lawyers deny that he supports Hamas.
Additionally, on Thursday night DHS agents executed two search warrants in rooms on the Columbia campus.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche of the US justice department said the agents were searching for evidence that the university was “harboring and concealing illegal aliens on its campus”.
Columbia Interim President Katrina Armstrong said in a letter to the campus that she was “heartbroken” to inform them of the federal raid.
“No one was arrested or detained. No items were removed, and no further action was taken,” she said.
The Trump administration has also pulled $400m of federal funding from Columbia University, saying it failed to fight anti-semitism on campus. — NNN-AGENCIES
