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

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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pro-Palestinian protestor and Columbia graduate student, Ranjani Srinivasan, who fled to Canada after her student visa was revoked.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

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.

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Transcript

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