President Donald Trump, at the request of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, ordered the release of a Columbia University student who had been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for roughly nine hours for overstaying her student visa by about a decade. Elaina Aghayeva, a neuroscience and political science student originally from Azerbaijan, was taken into custody early Feb. 26, 2026, by federal immigration agents at her on-campus residence in New York City, according to city o