7 hours ago
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NEW YORK: The first knock at the door came on March 7. Three federal immigration agents showed up at a
Columbia University
apartment searching for
Ranjani Srinivasan
, a student from India. She and her roommate did not open the door.
Two days earlier, on March 5, Srinivasan had received an email from the US Consulate in Chennai, indicating that her visa had been revoked. The notice did not provide a reason, saying only that "information has come to light" that may make her ineligible for a visa. Confused, she emailed Columbia's office for international students the following day seeking guidance. An official informed her that the revocation would take effect only if she left the country and that she could remain in the US to pursue her studies.
She was not home when the agents showed up again the next night, on March 8. Srinivasan had packed a few belongings, left her cat behind with a friend and jumped on a flight to
Canada
at LaGuardia Airport.
Her roommate once again refused to open the door to let the agents in, and recorded audio of the interaction. She said the agents had initially identified themselves as "police"; declined to provide their badge numbers, saying they feared they would be doxxed; and stood to the side of the door so they were not visible through the peephole. The roommate, a fellow Columbia student, said the building's doorman, an immigrant, later told her he had let the three agents into the building because he was frightened.
"We were here yesterday," one of the officials said, believing he was talking to Srinivasan because the roommate had not identified herself. "We're here today. We're here tonight. Tomorrow. You're probably scared. If you are, I get it. The reality is, your visa was revoked. You are now amenable to removal proceedings." The official stressed that he and his colleagues were not trying to break the law, that she would have the right to go before an immigration judge and left a phone number for the homeland security department that she could call if she had "a change of heart". "That's the easiest and fastest way to do this, as opposed to you being in your apartment and us knocking on your door every day, which is just silly," he said. "You're a very smart person. It's just not - it's not worth it."
When the agents returned a third time, this past Thursday, and entered her apartment with a judicial warrant, Srinivasan she was already in Canada.
"The atmosphere seemed so volatile and dangerous," Srinivasan, 37, said Friday. "So I just made a quick decision." Srinivasan, a
Fulbright recipient
pursuing a doctoral degree in urban planning, was caught in the dragnet of President Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrators through the use of federal immigration powers.
In the week since that first knock, Srinivasan says she has struggled to understand why the state department abruptly revoked her student visa without explanation, leading Columbia to withdraw her enrollment from the university. On Friday, while considering her future in Canada, she received some answers. The department issued a statement that characterised Srinivasan as a terrorist sympathiser and accused her of advocating violence and being "involved in activities supporting
Hamas
, a terrorist organisation." It did not provide any evidence for its allegations.
Srinivasan's lawyers have vehemently denied those allegations and have accused the
Trump administration
of revoking her visa for engaging in "protected political speech," saying she was denied "any meaningful form of due process" to challenge the visa revocation.
Homeland security department officials said when Srinivasan renewed her visa last year, she failed to disclose two court summonses related to protests on Columbia's campus.
"I'm fearful that even the most low-level political speech or doing what we all do - like shout into the abyss that is social media - can turn into this dystopian nightmare where somebody is calling you a terrorist sympathiser and making you, literally, fear for your life and safety," Srinivasan said.
Srinivasan's current situation can be traced back to last year, when she was arrested at an entrance to Columbia's campus the same day that pro-Palestinian protesters occupied Hamilton Hall, a university building. She said she had not been a part of the break-in but was returning to her apartment, wading through a churning crowd of protesters and barricades when the police arrested her.
She was detained and received two summonses, one for obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic and another for refusing to disperse. Her case was quickly dismissed and did not result in a criminal record, according to her lawyers and court documents. Srinivasan said she never faced disciplinary action from the university and was in good academic standing.
Srinivasan said she did not disclose the summonses in the visa renewal form because her case had been dismissed and she did not have a conviction. "But maybe that was my mistake. I would have been happy to disclose that, but the way they questioned us was sort of assuming you had a conviction."
Srinivasan said she was not an activist or a member of any group that organised demonstrations on campus. "I'm surprised I'm a person of interest," she said. "I'm kind of a rando, like, absolute rando."
English (US) · 