Trump officials cheer 'self-deportation' of pro-Palestinian student protester
A pro-Palestinian college student charged following last year's protests in New York City has "self-deported" to Canada, federal officials said as they shared surveillance video of the woman rushing to catch a flight at LaGuardia Airport.
The student's hurried departure comes as federal officials consider whether to bring terrorism charges against people who participated in last year's sit-ins and encampments that began at Columbia University but spread nationally.
"It is 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 and you should not be in this country," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a social media post Friday. "I'm glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self deport."
Noem's unusual decision to post the video to social media reflects the level of attention Trump and his deputies have given to the pro-Palestinian protests, which erupted following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, and Israel's subsequent retaliation.
ICE agents last weekend detained one of the student protest leaders in an operation that drew a request for real-time updates from the White House, and arrested another protester Thursday. And federal officials have cut $400 million in research grants to Columbia and demanded the university better protect Jewish students.
Trump administration officials have accused multiple Columbia students of being aligned with Hamas or being terrorist sympathizers, but have not offered specific evidence. Trump has personally celebrated the ICE detention of the student protest leader, Mahmoud Khalil.
Homeland Security officials identified the woman in Noem’s X post as Ranjani Srinivasan, and said she was a citizen and national of India who was recorded on video at LaGuardia airport in New York on March 11 racing to catch an Air Canada flight to Toronto. Officials said other video and records confirmed she left the United States.
DHS officials said Srinivasan most recently entered the U.S. on a valid F-1 non-immigrant student visa on Jan. 19, 2025, as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University and a teaching fellow at Barnard College. Officials said she had received two protest-related court summonses; the disposition of those charges was not immediately available Friday.
Federal officials said she failed to disclose those charges on her most recent visa application, and her visa was revoked by the State Department on March 5.
Meanwhile, the weekend arrest of activist Khalil, 30, has drawn growing protests in New York City, including the temporary occupation of Trump Tower on Thursday. Police detained nearly 100 protesters to end the sit-in.
Several civil-rights groups are suing to end Khalil's ICE detention and halt the threat of deportation. Other groups are suing Columbia University, which has been moving to discipline some of the student protesters.
Khalil was a lead negotiator in the divisive Columbia student encampment protests that demanded the university cut ties with Israel amid the war, including with financial investments and student exchange programs.
Federal officials on Friday said they had also detained a pro-Palestinian student protester, Leqaa Kordia for overstaying her student visa. Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was previously arrested for her participation in last year's protests, and her visa was terminated in January 2022 for lack of university attendance, officials said.
Plainclothes agents: 'We don't give our names'
Late Friday afternoon, the American Civil Liberties Union released a 2-minute video of plainclothes immigration agents detaining Khalil in his university-owned building’s lobby nearly a week ago.
Khalil's wife, Noor Abdalla, records the agents, whose faces are blurred in the edited video, as they order Khalil to turn around to cuff him. Agents tell Khalil to stop resisting as they tell him he’s under arrest. Abdalla, who is 8 months pregnant with their first child, says Khalil is not resisting.
“You’re going to have to come with us,” an agent tells Khalil.
“Yeah, I’m going with you,” Khalil responds calmly. “Don’t worry.”
As they begin to whisk Khalil away, he turns to Abdalla, still recording, and nods. “Habibi, it’s fine,” he says. He tells her to call his attorney, Amy Greer.
Abdalla, her voice shaking, follows agents outside as they place him in an unmarked car. Abdalla, while speaking to Greer, asks agents for their names.
“We don’t give our names,” an agent responds. An agent tells Abdalla that Khalil is being taken to 26 Federal Plaza, which houses an ICE office in lower Manhattan. She asks which agency is arresting Khalil. They don’t respond as Abdalla tries to follow them.
“They’re literally like running away from me,” she narrates.
In a declaration, Greer said one agent told her that he had an administrative warrant. Greer said agents never produced one. They hung up the phone instead, Greer said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
(This story has been updated to add new information and video.)