NYC Mayor Adams Asked How DHS Gained Access To Summonses For Columbia Student That Were Dismissed

4 days ago

During a press briefing on Monday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D-NY) was asked about whether the NYPD collaborated with DHS to provide information on a pro-Palestinian protestor and Columbia graduate student, Ranjani Srinivasan, who fled to Canada after her student visa was revoked.

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Transcript

00:00How are you?

00:00How are you, sir?

00:01Good, good.

00:02I have a question about Columbia and the NYPD.

00:06I don't know if you've been following the now-former

00:08student who fled New York City because HSI was trying

00:12to take her into custody and deport her.

00:15Her name is Ranjani Srinivasan.

00:18So DHS explicitly said in their statement

00:21that partially, well, the reason why they targeted her

00:24was because of two summonses that she received by the NYPD

00:29on April 30th during the height of the protests at the school.

00:32Those summonses were dismissed within weeks

00:36after they were issued.

00:36She never had to appear in court.

00:39She was never fingerprinted.

00:40She was released.

00:42Summonses issued weeks later were dismissed.

00:44Somehow, those summonses and that information

00:47got into the hands of the DHS.

00:50And so I'm just wondering how that could have happened.

00:53Is the NYPD sharing any of that information

00:57with HSI, with DHS?

01:00Has the city shared any of that information

01:03with the Columbia University?

01:05This woman, she's a Fulbright scholar, Harvard grad,

01:09was not in the public eye at all, was not even in New York City

01:13during the height of the Columbia protests.

01:14She was out of the country.

01:16And all of a sudden, because of these summonses

01:18that were dismissed, apparently she somehow

01:20winds up on the radar of DHS.

01:22Yeah, OK.

01:23We have been extremely clear, and I'll

01:25say it over and over again.

01:26New York City Police Department, they

01:29do not collaborate for civil enforcement.

01:32And I don't know the details of this.

01:34We could look into it and find out.

01:36But we do not collaborate for civil enforcement.

01:39And how that summonses information got out,

01:44that's something that you have to speak with the federal

01:46government about.

01:48We do not collaborate for civil enforcement.

01:50And we're very clear on that.

01:51This was at HSI.

01:53They went and got a warrant from a judge at SDNY

01:56to try and arrest her.

01:57They went to her.

01:58She had fled.

01:59So could you argue that that was a criminal enforcement?

02:04I mean, she was not brought up on any criminal charges

02:06by HSI.

02:07And it wasn't ICE officers.

02:09It was specifically HSI.

02:11Yeah.

02:11And it's just very perplexing, because there's nothing else

02:14in the record about her.

02:16And Secretary Nuland was very hard on her, called her

02:20a terrorist sympathizer, a Hamas supporter.

02:23And there's no evidence of that.

02:25The only thing that they have are these two summonses

02:28that somehow DHS found out about.

02:32Well, I don't know what's the extent of the evidence.

02:34They would have to tell you the extent of the evidence.

02:38And that's with HSI.

02:39But listen, I commend the Secretary on her desire

02:44to deal with anyone that committed a crime.

02:46And I've said that over and over again.

02:48And I'm looking to collaborate with all of our law

02:50enforcement agencies.

02:52HSI.

02:54And something that many of us have failed to acknowledge.

02:58ICE is not a criminal organization.

03:01ICE is a law enforcement organization.

03:05Some folks may not like ICE and what they do.

03:09But HSI, HSI, that's a law enforcement organization.

03:15I'm going to collaborate with every law enforcement

03:18organization that's dealing with criminal behavior.

03:21The law doesn't allow us to deal with civil enforcement.

03:25And so whatever evidence HSI has, I don't speak for HSI.

03:29Just so I can follow up, so does the NYPD provide,

03:34do you know, has the NYPD provided any summons

03:37information from April 30th to any government agencies,

03:41Congress, Columbia University?

03:44I mean, you may not know this off the top of your head.

03:47But it seems to be an issue because somehow, again,

03:50this information got out there.

03:52Yeah, it's not an issue to me.

03:53We're not, we don't, no, here's what I'm OK with.

03:56Because I don't want to be misquoted

03:58because sometimes that happens.

04:01I'm OK with us following the law.

04:03We don't collaborate with any agency when it comes down to,

04:08we don't collaborate with ICE, I should say,

04:10when it comes down to civil enforcement.

04:11And I say over and over again.

04:13So we'll look into what you're sharing now.

04:16But we don't, we've made that clear over and over.

NYC Mayor Adams Asked How DHS Gained Access To Summonses For Columbia Student That Were Dismissed

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