Why did the Trump administration revoke the visa of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian scholar at Columbia University?

Why did the Trump administration revoke the visa of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian scholar at Columbia University?

Indian national and Columbia University student Ranjani Srinivasan has returned to her country after her visa was cancelled amid allegations that she was advocating for Hamas.

Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national who participated in a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University in the United States, has returned home, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The department has reportedly released a video of Ranjani Srinivasan, in which she is seen walking down the jetway with her bags. The Washington Times quoted the Department of Homeland Security as saying that she left on Tuesday.

The State Department revoked his visa last week.

The US Justice Department is also investigating whether Columbia University has hidden “illegal aliens” on its campus, one of its top officials said on Friday, as the Trump administration accelerates its campaign to deport foreigners who took part in pro-Palestinian protests at the school last year, reports news agency Associated Press.

On Thursday evening, agents from the Department of Homeland Security searched two university residences with warrants. No one was arrested and it was unclear who officers were looking for, it said, but by Friday afternoon, US authorities had announced developments involving two people in connection with the demonstrations.

Ranjani Srinivasan, a Columbia doctoral student from India whose visa was revoked by the Trump administration, fled the US on a plane. And a Palestinian woman who was arrested during protests at the university last April was arrested by federal immigration officials in Newark, New Jersey, on charges that she had overstayed her visa. Speaking at the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch said it was all part of the president’s “mission to end anti-Semitism in this country.”

Columbia University has come under heavy pressure from the Trump administration in recent weeks, as the US government cancelled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to the school, most of it for medical research, for not cracking down strongly on students and faculty who criticized Israel’s military action in Gaza during mass protests last spring.

President Donald Trump and other officials have accused the protesters of being “Hamas supporters,” referring to the terrorist group that plans to attack Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Columbia University’s campus has been in turmoil since the arrest Saturday of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who helped lead last spring’s protests.

Why was Ranjani Srinivasan’s visa revoked?

On Friday, the Trump administration said it had revoked Ranjani Srinivasan’s visa for “advocating violence and terrorism.” The department said Srinivasan chose to “self-deport” on Tuesday.

Officials did not say what evidence they had that Srinivasan had advocated violence. According to a news release, Ranjani Srinivasan entered the United States on an F-1 visa and was “engaged in activities supporting Hamas, a terrorist organization.”

“On March 5, 2025, the State Department revoked her visa,” the news release said. “The Department of Homeland Security has obtained video footage of her using the CBP Home app to self-deport on March 11.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a video on Twitter on Friday that shows Srinivasan pulling a suitcase at LaGuardia Airport.

DHS launched the CBP Home app on Monday, according to a news release issued the same day. The app has a self-deportation feature that allows undocumented immigrants to declare their intention to leave the United States.

Another protester arrested

The woman arrested in Newark, Leka Cordia, was charged with failing to leave the US after her visa expired. Columbia said it had no record of Cordia being a student there or being arrested on campus. However, there were several protests and arrests in the streets outside the university at the same time.