Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
Pro-Palestinian activists hold a Friday prayer service and demonstration outside the gates of Columbia University in Manhattan on March 14, 2025
(JNS) — The Trump administration has launched a formal investigation into allegations that Columbia University may have hidden foreign nationals targeted for deportation following their participation in pro-Hamas protests.
A senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice, speaking on Friday, announced the opening of the probe. As part of these efforts, federal agents conducted searches in university dormitories and implemented measures against foreign students and activists involved in the demonstrations.
Department of Homeland Security agents conducted searches with a warrant at two university dormitories on Thursday evening. No arrests were made during the searches, and authorities have not clarified whom they were specifically targeting.
On Friday afternoon, American authorities reported developments concerning two individuals connected to the protests. A doctoral student from India studying at Columbia University, whose visa was revoked by the Trump administration, fled the U.S. on a commercial flight. Additionally, a Palestinian woman who was detained during university protests in April last year was arrested by federal immigration authorities in Newark, N.J., for remaining in the U.S. after her visa had expired.
These actions are part of the president’s mission to end antisemitism in the country, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Among the preconditions for formal discussions to restore $400 million in federal funding, which the Trump administration is withholding from Columbia University for its failure to respond adequately to Jew-hatred on campus, are banning masks, reforming the admissions process and moving campus discipline directly under the university president.
