Indian doctoral student Ranjani Srinivasan at Columbia University has quit the United States voluntarily after her student visa was canceled. The US Department of Homeland Security declared her visa was canceled on March 5, 2025, for “promoting violence and terrorism” at pro-Palestine rallies on campus.
The Department of Homeland Security stated that Srinivasan had engaged in activities favoring Hamas, a terrorist group that the US considers as such. The Department of State cancelled her visa on March 5.
She used the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency app to self-deport on March 11 to evade being forcibly deported using a US military flight, much like other recent deportees returned to India.
Homeland Security Secretary’s Statement
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a video of Srinivasan at the airport and reaffirmed that those calling for violence do not deserve to remain in the US.
“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 use the CBP Home app to self deport,” she tweeted on X.
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
Who Is Ranjani Srinivasan?
Srinivasan was a doctoral candidate in urban planning at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP). Her research, according to the university website, examined the changing nature of land-labor relations in India’s peri-urban statutory towns, funded by the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute.
She had graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from CEPT University in Ahmedabad and a Master’s degree from Harvard University, both on Fulbright Nehru and Inlaks Scholarships.
Ranjani had also previously worked with an environmental policy nonprofit in Washington, working on climate change threats to frontier communities. She was also a researcher with the West Philadelphia Landscape Project (WPLP) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Columbia University’s website reports that Srinivasan recognized employing the gender-neutral pronoun “they.” It also reported that she was generally interested in urbanization, political economy of development, and historical geographies of capitalism and caste.
The strong action by the US government against students who were participating in pro-Palestinian protests brings into focus the legal dangers international students face when participating in political activism. With increasing investigations, Columbia University is at the center of mounting controversy surrounding immigration enforcement and campus protests.
