A former Columbia University student involved in the anti-Israel protests used a newly minted app for illegal migrants to self-deport after her visa was revoked by the Trump administration.
Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national who entered the United States on a student visa, was involved in pro-Hamas activities during her time as a doctoral student at Columbia University, according to a Friday statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Due to her alleged activities in support of Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, the Department of State revoked her student visa.
DHS obtained footage of Srinivasan departing the U.S. on Tuesday using the CBP Home app, a newly minted app that includes a feature for illegal migrants to use when self-deporting.
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 and you should not be in this country.
I’m glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers… pic.twitter.com/jR2uVVKGCM
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) March 14, 2025
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday. “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,” Noem continued.
Immediately upon entering office, the Trump administration nixed the Biden-era CBP One app, which allowed foreign nationals to apply for asylum en masse along the U.S.-Mexico border. The administration has since relaunched and rebranded the application, the CBP Home app, to instead allow illegal migrants to submit details on their intention to leave the U.S.
Srinivasan’s self-deportation follows the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born foreign national and one of the leaders of the anti-Israel protests that rocked Columbia University throughout 2024. Khalil was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on March 8 and has since remained at a detention facility in Louisiana while his deportation proceedings play out in court.
Srinivasan and Khalil were allegedly affiliated with campus protests that became so violent, Columbia officials were forced to call in the New York Police Department to make arrests. The anti-Israel agitators have been accused of taking over campus property, harassing Jewish students and distributing pro-Hamas material, among other transgressions.
The protests that rocked Columbia University throughout 2024 were part of nationwide student protests against Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 massacre at the hands of Hamas terrorists. President Donald Trump promised a crackdown on foreign student protesters who engaged in anti-Semitic and extremist activity, and took presidential actions to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses.
The Trump administration canceled roughly $400 million for Columbia in March for its alleged failure to squash anti-Semitic activity on campus. In response to pressure from the White House, Columbia officials have begun cracking down on students who were involved in aggressive protest activity, including multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations and full-blown expulsions.
Khalil is not the only Columbia protester to be arrested by deportation officers.
ICE agents out of Newark, New Jersey, arrested Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank for overstaying her expired student visa, DHS revealed Friday. Despite her student visa being terminated for lack of attendance in January 2022, Kordia remained in the U.S. and was arrested in April 2024 for her alleged involvement in pro-Hamas activity at Columbia’s campus.
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