Letter from Ranjani SrinivasanOn Wednesday night (March 5), my visa was revoked by the Department of State.
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On Friday, (March 7), while on a Zoom call with an ISSO advisor who continues to reassure me that I was in legal status, ICE came knocking at my door without a warrant. If I had been alone I would have opened the door. My roommate, an American citizen, recognized the knock as that of law enforcement. Given the lack of warrant she refused to let them in and repeatedly asked them to identify themselves; something they refused to do.
Scared and anxious, I told the advisor, who was still on Zoom, that ICE was at my door. Initially she seemed frantic, calling upper administrators but in the end she seemed amused.
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At this point I was quite sure the University was working closely with law enforcement. And I suspected the private survey I had been administered had been ICE trying to confirm my address.
Yet, ICE still had not realized I had vacated my home and left the country. On Thursday (March 13) my home was raided by DHS. The agents were surprised to find my empty room.
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The reason why I am laying out this sequence of events is that it demonstrates not only the absolute power the Department of State has over F-1 visa holders and the few legal options before us, but also the extent to which Columbia has been cooperating with ICE, instead of protecting its students.
If you don’t know, college administrators are absolutely immoral. The idea of colleges standing up to the administration is laughable.
Ms. Srinivasan was smart about this, and I’m glad she escaped ICE detention.
I think something to look out for next is ICE detaining US citizens.