A second protester who took part in anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University has been nabbed by immigration officials, who also revoked the visa of another student “for advocating for violence and terrorism,” sources said Friday.
Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian who hails from the West Bank, was busted by Homeland Security agents Thursday for alleged immigration violations related to overstaying on an expired student visa, the sources said.
Kordia — who was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark, New Jersey — was first arrested in April 2024 for taking part in one of the protests on Columbia’s campus while overstaying on her twice-canceled student visa, according to the sources.
A third Columbia protester, Indian citizen Ranjani Srinivasan — a doctoral student in urban planning at the Ivy League university and a teaching fellow at Barnard College — was seen in dramatic video obtained by The Post running through LaGuardia Airport as she self-deported from the US for Canada on Tuesday.
The State Department revoked her student visa on March 5, the sources said.
It comes after the lightning-rod arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian former graduate student at Columbia who helped lead the anti-Israel protests there and is now facing deportation.
Khalil, a green card holder married to a US citizen, has filed a lawsuit against President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio seeking his immediate release from an immigration facility in Louisiana. He argues he was illegally detained as “retaliation” for expressing his First Amendment right to free speech.
The Department of Justice argued Khalil was rightfully detained under a law that allows the secretary of state to boot someone from the US if there are reasonable grounds to believe their presence or activities could negatively impact foreign policy, such as the country’s commitment to fighting antisemitism.
Trump, following Khalil’s Saturday bust by ICE agents at his Columbia-owned apartment, warned that his arrest would be the first of many.
The Atlantic reported that Rubio was targeting a student in addition to Khalil, but it’s unclear if either Kordia or Srinivasan were the ones he set his sights on.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem emphasized in a statement Friday that it’s “a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America.”
“When you advocate for violence and terrorism, that privilege should be revoked,” said Noem.
Kordia first entered the US in 2016 on a tourist visa and obtained a student visa the next year, sources said. But in 2021, the feds terminated her visa for lack of attendance. She then applied to have her revoked visa reinstated and was approved later that year.
But she again failed to attend classes, leading the feds to again terminate her visa in 2022.
The video of Srinivasan’s swift exit was taken as she used the Trump administration’s newly-created CBP Home app to flee the country after Homeland Security set their sights on her, according to sources.
“I am glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self-deport,” said Noem.
Srinivasan entered the US on a student visa on Jan. 19 for her studies.
As part of her visa process, she failed to disclose that on April 30, 2024 she received court summonses for obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic and unlawful congregation and refusal to disperse, both related to protests, according to sources.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.