Another Columbia anti-Israel protester arrested, 3rd ‘self-deports’, US feds say
Arrest comes after detention of university activist Mahmoud Khalil sets off widespread uproar; federal agents visit campus housing; hundreds protest outside college gates
By Luke Tress 14 March 2025, 11:36 pmUpdated: Today, 5:17 am
An anti-Israel protester outside Columbia University in New York City, March 14, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
NEW YORK — A Palestinian student protester at New York’s Columbia University has been arrested, and another whose visa was revoked “self-deported,” the US Department of Homeland Security said on Friday.
The announcement came after federal agents last Saturday detained a campus protest leader, Mahmoud Khalil, setting off furious backlash. The arrests are part of a wider crackdown on anti-Israel activism on US campuses by the Trump administration.
The department said Friday that Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested by Newark, New Jersey, immigration officers for overstaying an expired student visa.
Her visa expired in January 2022 due to “lack of attendance,” the statement said, adding that Kordia was arrested after partaking in “pro-Hamas protests” at Columbia in April 2024. Around that time, activists took over a campus building and held an unauthorized protest encampment.
The other student, Ranjani Srinivasan, from India, had her visa revoked on March 5 for “supporting Hamas and terrorist activities,” the Department of Homeland Security said. Srinivasan was a doctoral student in urban planning at Columbia on a student visa. She used a US Customs and Border Protection app to “self-deport” on Tuesday, the department said.
