Ranjani Srinivasan, a PhD student at Columbia University who self-deported herself fearing ICE arrest, was charged by the Department of Homeland Security with no disclosing during the registration of her visa last year that she had been issued two jury summonses for her participation in pro-Palestine protests on the college campus.
Srinivasan was briefly detained and issued two indictments, one for blocking traffic for vehicles or pedestrians, and the other for refusing to separate. Her attorneys claimed that she did not comply with the card registration form because there was no crime against her, no criminal history, and the case was dismissed.
According to Nathan Yaffe, one of her attorneys,” She was taken in with about 100 different people after being prevented from returning to her room and getting stuck in the street.” The judge recognized this when it rejected her situation as having no significance. Ranjani was merely attempting to return home.
” Because I had no and the fees were dismissed, I kind of marked it as “no,” Srinivasan said in response to not making the information available for the card registration. ” But maybe that was my error,” she said. I would have been happy to let you know that, but the way they had questioned us was kind of like assuming that you had a judgment.
Contrary to Mahmoud Khalil, Srinivasan claimed that she was not an advocate and that she was certainly a part of any organization organizing protests on campus. She said,” I’m only surprised that I’m a person of interest.” She said,” I’m sort of a rando, like, overall rando.”
Why did Srinivasan self-deport herself?
Srinivasan received an email from the US Consulate in Chennai ( India ) on March 5 to inform her that her visa had been revoked. They didn’t give a purpose. She contacted her school for guidance, who told her that she could stay in the US for the time being. ICE agents came to her on March 7, but her companion refused to open the gate. Finally she received an email from her school informing her that Columbia had been informed by Homeland Security that her legal standing in the country had been ended, and that the school withdrew her membership. Therefore, Srinivasan left the nation and headed for Canada.
