Campus Protests and Policing

NYPD officers arrested 13 anti‑immigration‑enforcement demonstrators outside Columbia University in New York on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, after they allegedly blocked a campus entrance and ignored multiple orders to disperse for about 20 minutes. Police say the protesters, wearing shirts reading “Sanctuary Campus Now” and “ICE Off Campus,” were taken into custody and issued criminal court summonses, though officials have not said whether they are students, staff or outside activists. The rally demanded that Columbia declare itself a sanctuary campus amid national anger over ICE and Border Patrol tactics, including recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis. In a statement, Columbia said it supports peaceful protest but called some claims made at the rally “factually incorrect,” stressing that ICE must present a judicial warrant — not just an administrative one — to enter non‑public areas like classrooms, dorms and ID‑restricted spaces, and that no university leaders have ever requested ICE presence on or near campus. The confrontation underscores how elite universities are becoming flashpoints in the Trump administration’s interior‑enforcement wars, with schools trying to reassure immigrant students while police enforce street and building‑access rules.