An Indian student at Columbia University who had their visa revoked was seen ‘self-deporting’ after the Trump administration cracked down on students believed to be supporting terrorist groups.
The Justice Department is investigating whether Columbia concealed ‘illegal aliens’ on its campus, as the Trump administration intensified its campaign to deport foreigners who participated in anti-Israel protests that plagued the school last year.
Earlier this week, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian man with a green card, was detained by ICE for his role in the demonstrations.
The Trump administration said Friday it had revoked the visa of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and doctoral student at Columbia, for ‘advocating for violence and terrorism.’
Srinivasan entered the United States on a F-1 student visa as doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University.
They were involved in activities supporting Hamas, a terrorist organization. On March 5, 2025, the Department of State revoked her visa.
The Department of Homeland Security obtained video footage of Srinivasan using the CBP Home App to self-deport on March 11.
Officials didn´t say what evidence they had that Srinivasan had advocated violence.
An Indian student at Columbia University who had their visa revoked was seen ‘self-deporting’ after the Trump administration cracked down on students believed to be supporting terrorist groups
The Trump administration said Friday it had revoked the visa of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and doctoral student at Columbia, for ‘advocating for violence and terrorism’
‘It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live & study in the United States of America,’ DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.
‘When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country. I’m glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self deport.’
CBP Home is an overhauled cellphone app once used to let migrants apply for asylum, turning it into a system that allows people living illegally in the U.S. to say they want to leave the country voluntarily.
The renamed app, announced Monday and now called CBP Home, is part of the administration’s campaign to encourage ‘self-deportations,’ touted as an easy and cost-effective way to nudge along President Donald Trump’s push to deport millions of immigrants without legal status.
‘The app provides illegal aliens in the United States with a straightforward way to declare their intent to voluntarily depart, offering them the chance to leave before facing harsher consequences,’ Pete Flores, the acting commissioner for U.S Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement.
A third Columbia student, West Bank native Leqaa Kordia, was arrested by ICE officers in Newark, New Jersey for overstaying an expire F-1 student visa.
Her visa terminated on January 26, 2022, for lack of attendance.
Previously, in April 2024 Kordia was arrested for her involvement in what DHS termed ‘pro-Hamas’ protests at Columbia University in New York City.
‘It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live & study in the United States of America,’ DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said
Agents with the Department of Homeland Security searched two Columbia residences with a warrant Thursday evening.
No one was arrested and it was unclear whom the authorities were searching for, but by Friday afternoon U.S. officials had announced developments related to the two people they had pursued in connection with the demonstrations.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking at the Justice Department, said it was all part of the president’s ‘mission to end antisemitism in this country.’
‘Just last night, we worked with the Department of Homeland Security to execute search warrants from an investigation into Columbia University for harboring and concealing illegal aliens on its campus,’ Blanche said.
‘That investigation is ongoing, and we are also looking at whether Columbia´s handling of earlier incidents violated civil rights laws and included terrorism crimes.’
Blanche didn’t say what evidence agents had of wrongdoing by the university. It was unclear whether he was accusing the school itself of ‘terrorism crimes’ or saying that people involved in the protests had committed such crimes.
Khalil, 29, a Palestinian who was born and raised in Syria, helped to lead protests against Israel at Columbia last year.
He also acted as a negotiator between students and university officials.
Mahmoud Khalil, 29, a Palestinian who was born and raised in Syria, helped to lead protests against Israel at Columbia last year
The protests were allowed to run rampant for two weeks. They were marked by violent assaults and instances of Jewish students being afraid to go to class.
He was taken into custody at his university-owned apartment on Saturday night by ICE agents.
The Department of Homeland Security, confirming Khalil’s arrest on Sunday, claimed he had ‘led activities aligned to Hamas’ and that the DHS action was taken ‘in coordination with the Department of State.’
The president accused Khalil of being ‘pro-Hamas’ and Rubio declared the U.S. would revoke visas and green cards of ‘Hamas supporters in America.’
Khalil’s supporters say his arrest is an attack on free speech, and have been staging protests in the city and across the country.
He was being detained at an immigration detention center in Louisiana, where he has remained after a brief stop at a New Jersey lockup.
Khalil has not been charged with a crime. He is also married to a U.S. citizen. His wife is eight months pregnant.
His arrest has ignited a fierce debate over whether the Trump administration violated his First Amendment rights by detaining him and trying to deport him.
A brief hearing on Wednesday largely focused on jurisdiction, but one of Khalil’s lawyers told the judge that they have not been able to have a single attorney-client protected phone call with him.
Rubio fired back at critics of Khalil’s arrest, saying that it is ‘not about free speech.’
‘When you come to the United States as a visitor, which is what a visa is, which is how this individual entered this country, on a visitor’s visa, you are here as a visitor. We can deny you that visa,’ the U.S. top diplomat argued.
If someone said they intended to come to the U.S. as a student ‘and rile up all kinds of anti-Jewish student, anti-Semitic activities’ and shut down universities, they would be denied the visa, Rubio said.
He added: ‘If you actually end up doing that once you’re in this country on such a visa, we will revoke it.’
Rubio also said if they end up on a green card with such activities, the U.S. will kick someone out.
‘This is not about free speech. This is about people who don’t have the right to be in the United States to begin with,’ the secretary of state said.
‘No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card,’ Rubio added.
He said the U.S. can deny one for ‘virtually any reason.’
That included ‘being a supporter of Hamas and coming into our universities and turning them upside down, and being complicit in what are clearly crimes of vandalization, complicit in shutting down learning institutions.’
