Federal agents raided two student residences at Columbia University, the school’s interim president confirmed, escalating tensions between the Trump administration and the Ivy League institution.
The searches come just a week after immigration authorities detained Mahmoud Khalil, a student leader from last year’s campus protests, whom the administration is seeking to deport.
Hours before the searches, the Trump administration issued a letter to Columbia, demanding sweeping changes to its student discipline and admissions policies. The letter, signed by the Department of Education, General Services Administration, and the Health and Human Services Department, tied the school’s compliance to the potential reinstatement of $400 million in federal grants and contracts that were revoked last week.
Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, said in a statement that Department of Homeland Security agents executed two federal warrants to search the student residences. No arrests were made, and no items were confiscated, she added.
The move underscores the administration’s mounting pressure on Columbia, which has been a focal point of campus protests over Israel’s actions in Gaza.
President Donald Trump and his administration have accused the university of failing to combat antisemitism and allowing Jewish students to face intimidation.
In its letter, the administration ordered Columbia to formally define antisemitism, ban masks used to “conceal identity or intimidate,” and place the university’s Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under “academic receivership” for five years.
“Columbia University … has fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment,” the letter stated.
A university spokeswoman told The New York Times that the school was reviewing the letter. Reuters was unable to reach Columbia for additional comment.
The administration’s crackdown coincides with Columbia disciplining students involved in last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests, though it did not disclose their identities.
Meanwhile, the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil was temporarily halted by a federal judge. Khalil, who has not been charged with a crime, remains detained at a federal facility in Louisiana.
His attorneys argue that the administration’s policy of deporting non-citizens over political protests is unconstitutional.
Justice Department lawyers say Khalil, 30, is subject to deportation under a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that his presence in the U.S. could pose “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
Trump has accused Khalil of supporting Hamas. Rubio, echoing Trump’s stance, stated earlier this week that foreign nationals involved in campus protests should have their visas revoked.
“The government’s unlawful policy of targeting noncitizens for arrest and removal based on protected speech is…viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment,” Khalil’s attorneys, led by Amy Belsher of the New York Civil Liberties Foundation, argued in their court filing.
