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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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A Columbia University student self-deported using the new CBP Home app on Tuesday amid increased enforcement against pro-Palestinian student protesters.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Friday that Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national, was seen on video footage using the new app launched with the self-deport feature the day before.
"It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America," Noem said in a statement. "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."
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Newsweek reached out to Srinivasan via her Columbia and New York University emails for comment on Friday afternoon.
Why It Matters
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement comes amid heightened immigration enforcement against students at colleges across the country who were seen to be pro-Hamas through their protests since the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Last weekend, Columbia graduate and Green Card holder Mahmoud Khalil was detained by federal agents, with claims that his views do not match with U.S. foreign policy.
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What To Know
In her announcement, Noem said that Srinivasan, an Indian citizen, had entered the U.S. on an F-1 student visa and was studying as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University in Manhattan.
According to Noem, Srinivasan had been involved in "activities supporting Hamas," and the DHS had revoked her visa on March 5, a few days before Khalil's arrest. Noem said that Srinivasan then left the U.S. on March 11, using the new self-deport feature.
Video footage showed a woman using her phone at an airport while reportedly heading to Canada, according to Fox News.
According to Srinivasan's profiles on the Columbia and NYU (where she was an adjunct assistant professor in urban planning) websites, she studied at CEPT University in Ahmedabad before heading to the U.S. to pursue a master's degree at Harvard University. She then worked as an urban researcher for the West Philadelphia Landscape Project at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT, and as a field researcher in South Asia before arriving at Columbia.
DHS said it had also detained a Palestinian woman, Leqaa Kordia, for overstaying her F-1 visa, which had lapsed on January 26, 2022, for a lack of attendance. She was previously arrested during protests on Columbia's campus in April 2024.
The Trump administration has made it clear that it wants to revoke visas for students and others it sees as having sympathized with, or openly advocated for, pro-Hamas messages.
Mahmoud Khalil's case, which is being challenged, has become a flashpoint as his supporters and legal team say he is being targeted for asserting his First Amendment rights. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others within the Trump administration have said that pro-Palestinian protesters have sided with terrorism.
On Thursday, more ICE agents were allowed onto Columbia's campus, but no one was arrested or detained, the University said in a statement.
What People Are Saying
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, earlier this week: "This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans."
Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong, in a Thursday press release: "I understand the immense stress our community is under. Despite the unprecedented challenges, Columbia University will remain a place where the pursuit of knowledge is cherished and fiercely protected, where the rule of law and due process is respected and never taken for granted, and where all members of our community are valued and able to thrive. These are the principles we uphold and that guide us every day."
What Happens Next
More enforcement action against immigrant students who took part in college campus protests is expected in the coming days and weeks. DHS is urging all those in the country illegally to use the CBP Home app to self-deport rather than face more severe consequences.
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