Over a week ago, Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian research scholar at Columbia University, woke up to loud knocks on her apartment door. Three federal immigration agents were outside, looking for her.
She had recently learned that her student visa had been revoked but had no idea why. She didn’t open the door.
By the time agents returned the next night, she had already packed a bag, left her cat with a friend, and booked a flight to Canada. When they came back a third time with a judicial warrant, she was gone, as The New York Times reported.

Sudden visa revocation

Srinivasan, 37, was pursuing a PhD in urban planning at Columbia and had been in the US since 2016 as a Fulbright scholar. It was March 5, when she received an email from the US Consulate in Chennai, stating that her visa had been revoked.
The notice didn’t give a reason, only saying that “information has come to light” that may make her ineligible.
Out of confusion, she contacted Columbia’s international student office. She was told that as long as she stayed in the US, she could continue her studies. But that assurance lasted less than two days.
On March 7, while she was on a call with a university official discussing her visa status, ICE agents knocked on her apartment door for the first time. Her roommate, a fellow Columbia student, refused to open the door.
“I didn’t know what was going on,” Srinivasan later told The New York Times. “The atmosphere seemed so volatile and dangerous. So I just made a quick decision.”
That night, she packed some essentials and left.

DHS calls her “terrorist sympathiser”

A week later, the department of homeland security (DHS) provided an explanation—but not the one she expected. They labeled her a “terrorist sympathiser,” claiming she supported Hamas, the militant group that the US designates as a terrorist organization.
DHS did not provide any evidence for this claim.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, posted a surveillance video of Srinivasan at LaGuardia Airport, rolling a suitcase toward her gate. She called it a “self-deportation” and wrote on X, “It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live & study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked.”

Srinivasan’s lawyers strongly denied the allegations.
“Secretary Noem’s post on X is not only factually wrong but fundamentally un-American,” said her lawyer Naz Ahmad. “For at least a week, DHS has made clear its intent to punish her for her speech, and they have failed in their efforts.”

What led to the visa revocation?

The government claimed that Srinivasan had failed to disclose two court summonses on her visa renewal application. The summonses were from April 2023, when she was briefly detained at a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia.
According to her, she was simply trying to walk home when police arrested her along with around 100 others. Her case was dismissed, and she never faced any university disciplinary action.
Because there was no conviction, she hadn’t mentioned it on her visa renewal. “Maybe that was my mistake,” she admitted. “I would have been happy to disclose that, but just the way they had questioned us was sort of assuming that you had a conviction.”
Even so, immigration lawyers say visa revocations for dismissed summonses are rare. What’s even more unusual is that ICE agents showed up at her door.

Agents kept knocking — even after she left

After she left for Canada, ICE agents returned twice more. On their second visit, they spoke through the door to her roommate, thinking it was her.
“We were here yesterday,” one agent was quoted by The New York Times as per recordings. “We’re here today. We’re here tonight. Tomorrow. You’re probably scared. If you are, I get it.”
“The reality is, your visa was revoked. You are now amenable to removal proceedings,” the official continued. “That’s the easiest and fastest way to do this, as opposed to you being in your apartment and us knocking on your door every day, which is just silly. You’re a very smart person. It’s just not—it’s not worth it.”
The next day, Columbia informed Srinivasan via email that, because of the visa revocation, her enrolment was terminated, and she had to leave student housing immediately.

Crackdown on Columbia’s pro-Palestine protesters

Srinivasan insisted she is not an activist. She described herself as an architect focused on urban planning, not someone leading protests.
“I’m just surprised that I’m a person of interest,” she said. “I’m kind of a rando, like, absolute rando.”
Her case is one of several targeting Columbia students with visas in recent weeks. ICE has already arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder involved in campus protests. The Trump administration has also cancelled $400 million in grants to Columbia, accusing it of not protecting Jewish students from harassment.
Jason Houser, a former senior ICE official under Biden, said this enforcement strategy was alarming. “Criminalising free speech through radicalised immigration enforcement is a direct attack on our democracy,” he said.
Now in Canada, Srinivasan is uncertain about her future. “I’m fearful that even the most low-level political speech or just doing what we all do—like shout into the abyss that is social media—can turn into this dystopian nightmare,” she said. “Where somebody is calling you a terrorist sympathiser and making you, literally, fear for your life and your safety.”