Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student from Columbia University in the US, self-deported herself from the country this week, days after her student visa was revoked for participating in pro-Palestine protests. The US Department of Homeland Security issued a statement saying that Ms Srinivasan’s visa was revoked on March 5 for “advocating violence and terrorism”.

“Ranjani Srinivasan was involved in activities supporting Hamas, a terrorist organisation. On March 5, 2025, the Department of State revoked her visa. The Department of Homeland Security has obtained video footage of her using the Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agency app to self-deport on March 11,” it said in a statement.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a post on X, said, “It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. 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”. She also posted a short clip of Ms Srinivasan walking at the airport.

Who is Ranjani Srinivasan?

Ranjani Srinivasan is a doctoral student in urban planning from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). According to the university’s website, she was doing research focussing on the evolving nature of land-labour relations in peri-urban statutory towns in India. Ms Srinivasan received support from the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute for the research.

Ms Srinivasan has a Bachelor’s Degree from CEPT (Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology) University in Ahmedabad and a Master’s Degree from Harvard with Fulbright Nehru and Inlaks Scholarships. She has worked for an environmental advocacy nonprofit in Washington on “frontier communities at risk from climate change” and as a researcher for the West Philadelphia Landscape Project (WPLP) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The school’s website shows Ms Srinivasan referring to herself with the gender-neutral “they” pronoun. It also said that the Indian national is broadly interested in urbanisation, the political economy of development, and historical geographies of capitalism and caste.