Two pro-Palestine students linked to pro-Hamas activism face arrest, deportation
Two more pro-Palestine students who overstayed their visas will leave the country, with one self-deporting and another being arrested by U.S. federal officers.
The update was provided in an announcement made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday.
Two more pro-Palestine students who overstayed their visas will leave the country, with one self-deporting and another being arrested by U.S. federal officers, according to an announcement made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday.
One of the students, Ranjani Srinivasan, entered the U.S. with a student visa as a doctoral student at Columbia University.
“Srinivasan was involved in activities supporting Hamas, a terrorist organization,” DHS explained in its March 14 announcement. “The Department of Homeland Security has obtained video footage of her using the CBP Home App to self-deport on March 11.”
Srinivasan’s research focused on “colonial rule” and “global capitalist restructuring,” as noted by The Washington Free Beacon. She also signed a letter entitled “Palestinian Liberation Is Our Collective Liberation.”
The second student, Leqaa Kordia, was arrested by ICE officers “for overstaying her expired F-1 student visa,” DHS stated. “Previously, in April 2024 Kordia was arrested for her involvement in pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University in New York City.”
Kordia is from the West Bank, as noted by The New York Post. Her student visa has been canceled twice.
In a statement, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem explained that it is a “privilege” to have a visa and that those who “advocate for violence” should not be allowed to continue residing in the U.S.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” Noem said. “When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. I am glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self-deport.”
On March 11, the White House accused Columbia of “refusing to help” the federal government to identify its pro-Hamas activists.
On March 14, the anti-Israel student group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), posted pictures to X of Columbia Interim President Katrina Armstrong’s home with red paint and graffiti on it, asserting that it had been “redecorated.”
“The people will not stand for [Columbia’s] shameless complicity in genocide!” the group stated. “The University’s repression has only bred more resistance, lighting a flame it can’t control.”
In response to incidents of anti-Semitism at the school, President Trump revoked more than $400 million in federal money that was previously going to Columbia. Trump administration officials asserted that the university “has fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment.”
Campus Reform has contacted Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
