Close on the heels of the arrest of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian-origin PhD student of the same university, leaving the US made the headlines as secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem posted the video of Srinivasan in the airport and claimed that one of the ‘terrorist sympathizer’ used the department’s CBP Home app to self-deport. Self-deportation is leaving the country on one’s own instead of being arrested and getting deported by the administration. The Donald Trump administration overhauled a CBP app for facilitating the process where an individual can register, give his or her details and express the intent to leave the country once he or she has no legality for staying in the US.
Srinivasan’s attorney Nathan Yaffe said Kristi Noem’s post was false and it showed that they were targeting Srinivasan. “Despite doing nothing wrong, Ms Srinivasan booked a flight out of the country to comply with US law, which gave her a 15-day deadline to depart after DHS illegally terminated her student status,” Yaffe said. “The fact that DHS falsely claims she ‘self-deported’ via a CBP app only underscores that the administration’s targeting of her is built on fabrications, not facts,” Yaffe said to CNN.
Srinivasan’s visa illegally revoked, immigration officers visited her without warrant: Attorney
37-year-old Srinivasan, a Harvard graduate, has been in the US since 2016 and this was her last year in her PhD course. What links her with Mahmoud Khalil is the pro-Palestine protests on the university campus but Srinivasan’s attorney claimed that it is a mistaken link between them. She was mistakenly arrested during a protest last year while she was on her way home. She received court summons and was charged but those charges were dismissed as she was not part of the protest.
Her lawyers claimed that her student visa was revoked illegally giving her no explanation and the university too complied with the administration and revoked her enrollment.
When ICE agents showed up at Srinivasan’s door at the same time they picked up Mahmoud Khalil, she did not open the door. Srinivasan’s attorneys say the officers did not have a warrant during their initial visit and threatened to return to her apartment until they could contact her.
The DHS said Srinivasan suppressed about the court summons during her visa renewal though they did not clarify whether it was the only reason for her student visa getting revoked.
