New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) said Thursday that President Donald Trump agreed to release a Columbia University student detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier in the day.
“Just got off the phone with President Trump,” Mamdani wrote on X. “In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning.”
“He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” the mayor added in the same post.
Mamdani made an unannounced trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Trump in the Oval Office. The meeting was not listed on the president’s public schedule.
According to the Daily Mail, the two later spoke again by phone following the in-person meeting. Neither President Trump nor White House officials publicly confirmed Mamdani’s account of the call.
Aghayeva, an Azerbaijani student at Columbia University, was detained around 6:30 a.m. inside a residential building, school officials said. She later posted on Instagram from the back of a vehicle.
“DHS illegally arrested me,” she wrote to her more than 100,000 followers. “Please help.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson provided a different account. “ICE arrested Elmina Aghayeva, an illegal alien from Azerbaijan, whose student visa was terminated in 2016 under the Obama administration for failing to attend classes,” the spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
“The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment,” the spokesperson added. “She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS.”
Earlier in the day, Mamdani shared a photograph of himself and President Trump inside the Oval Office holding up newspapers. One paper displayed a headline reading “TRUMP TO CITY: LET’S BUILD.”
Another newspaper shown in the image featured former President Gerald Ford with the headline “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.” Mamdani captioned the post, “I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon.”
“I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City,” Mamdani added.
The mayor’s office has not released additional details about the meeting. The White House has not issued a statement confirming whether the president ordered Aghayeva’s release.
The meeting follows previous public interactions between Mamdani and President Trump. During a recent State of the Union address, the president referenced the mayor directly.
“The new communist mayor of New York City, I think he’s a nice guy, actually,” President Trump said. “I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy.”
The Daily Mail reported that Mamdani and President Trump have previously praised their working relationship during prior visits. Thursday’s meeting marks the latest exchange between the two officials.
