What Are ICE Agents Allowed to Do on College Campuses?

Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT What Are ICE Agents Allowed to Do on College Campuses? Federal agents do not have any special privileges on campuses. To arrest a student at Columbia University this week, they used a tactic of questionable legality. Listen to this article · 5:06 min Learn more Share full article By Jonah E. Bromwich Feb. 27, 2026, 6:36 p.m. ET A Columbia University undergraduate this week was arrested by federal immigration agents who falsely told the superintendent of a university-owned apartment building that they were the police and that they were searching for a missing child. The student, Ellie Aghayeva, was released after Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with President Trump and asked that her case be dismissed. But the episode has raised questions about whether the agents’ actions were legal and, more generally, what immigration agents are permitted to do on college campuses. Federal agents do not have any special privileges on campuses. While certain parts of campuses are considered public property, many are considered private. Agents need federal judicial warrants to search private property, meaning a judge would have to be convinced that there was probable cause that a crime was being or had been committed. Illegal immigration, per se, is not a crime; it is a civil violation of the law. The Homeland Security Department did not respond to a request for comment. Here’s what you need to know about what happened: What happened at Columbia University this week? Shortly after 6 a.m. on Thursday, five federal immigration agents were let into a university-owned apartment building by the building’s superintendent. They gained entry by posing as police officers searching for a missing child. They had no warrant. They entered Ms. Aghayeva’s apartment holding posters for the fictional missing child. Despite a public security officer’s protest that they had no warrant, they took her. The university’s president, Claire Shipman, s...