DOJ Investigates Columbia University for Potential Terrorism Offenses

A separate Homeland Security probe is looking into whether the university is shielding illegal immigrants.

Columbia University students protest the Israel–Hamas conflict at Columbia University in New York City on April 27, 2024. Emel Akan/The Epoch Times

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it is investigating recent events at Columbia University for potential terrorism offenses committed during campus events protesting the Israel–Hamas war.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on March 14 that the department is looking at whether Columbia violated civil rights and anti-terrorism laws in its handling of the protests, which erupted in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military offensive in Gaza.

The protests reached their peak in spring 2024 when anti-Israel activists established an encampment in a central quad and later occupied a university building. Columbia’s president ultimately stepped down after months of intense backlash and accusations that she failed to address widespread anti-Semitism on campus.

In a speech to the DOJ, Blanche said the investigation was part of President Donald Trump’s “mission to end anti-Semitism in this country” and an action “long overdue.”

“Let me be clear: Hamas is a terrorist organization. It has the blood of American citizens on its hands,” Blanche said. “Any person engaging in the material support of terrorism will be prosecuted. This includes those who threaten acts of violence on behalf of Hamas in the United States or even pay Hamas in the United States.”

Blanche also mentioned a separate investigation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into whether Columbia was shielding foreign nationals illegally remaining in the country.

“Just last night, we worked with the Department of Homeland Security to execute search warrants from an investigation into Columbia University for harboring and concealing illegal aliens on its campus,” Blanche said. “That investigation is ongoing, and we are also looking at whether Columbia’s handling of earlier incidents violated civil rights laws and included terrorism crimes.”

Columbia University confirmed the searches. In a campus-wide message on March 13, interim President Katrina Armstrong stated that DHS agents executed two judicial search warrants, signed by a federal magistrate judge, to inspect two student residences owned by the university. No arrests were made, and no items were removed.

Deportations and Arrests

By the afternoon of March 14, DHS had announced developments concerning two individuals it was pursuing in connection with the Columbia protests.

One of them is Ranjani Srinivasan, a Columbia doctoral candidate from India. The DHS said Srinivasan voluntarily left the country after authorities revoked her student visa for allegedly “advocating for violence and terrorism.”

DHS Security Kristi Noem on March 14 posted a video on social media platform X that appears to show Srinivasan pulling a suitcase at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” Noem stated in a related statement. “When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. I am glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self-deport.”

The CBP Home app, a repurposed version of the CBP One app that was formerly used to schedule appointments for potential parolees in Mexico, now includes a “self-deportation” feature that allows users to declare their intent to leave the United States.

Another protester, Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for allegedly overstaying her student visa. DHS stated that her visa was terminated in January 2022 for lack of attendance and that she had been arrested in April 2024 for her involvement in pro-Palestinian protests on the Columbia campus.

Kordia is the second protester affiliated with the Columbia protests to be detained by ICE this month. The first was Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian national of Palestinian descent who recently graduated from Columbia’s master’s program. He is currently being held at a detention center in Louisiana.

Khalil’s attorneys argue that his arrest and the deportation proceedings against him are acts of retaliation for his activism, violating his First Amendment rights. They emphasized his role in organizing group protests, distributing flyers, and serving as the lead negotiator for the so-called “Gaza solidarity encampments” at Columbia.

DHS, however, has characterized Khalil’s actions differently.

“Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” the department stated, adding that his arrest a part of an operation to implement Trump’s executive orders aimed at holding perpetrators of “unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence” accountable.

Khalil has so far not been charged with any terrorism-related offenses. Instead, the DHS invoked an immigration law that allows for the deportation of foreign nationals if the secretary of state has good reason to believe their presence or activities in the United States pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” to the country.

In response to a news article about Khalil’s arrest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”