A Columbia University student and online influencer was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday but was released by the end of the day through the machinations of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.The mayor posted on his social media account that he had secured the release of Elmina "Ellie" Aghayeva after speaking to President Donald Trump via phone call.'He has just informed me that she will be released imminently.' "Just got off the phone with President Trump," the mayor wrote. "In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently."Aghayeva is originally from Azerbaijan and has grown a large following on Instagram by documenting her life as a student.The student's attorney claimed that the ICE agents were able to detain her after pretending to be looking for a missing person in order to gain access to the Columbia campus. The Department of Homeland Security disputes the allegation.Earlier in the day, Mamdani had met with the president at the White House to pitch a proposal to ease the housing crisis."Hi guys. I am so grateful for everyone of you. I just got out a little while ago. I am safe and okay," Aghayeva wrote on Instagram after her release."I am so sorry, but I am in complete shock over what happened and my phone is blowing up with calls from reporters," she added. "I need a bit of time to process everything. I will come back soon but please don't worry."RELATED: Viral video shows alleged arson attack on rumored ICE facility in Kansas City — mayor expresses his outrage against ICE A Blaze News request for comment from the White House was not immediately answered.A DHS spokesperson said her student visa had been terminated in 2016 after she failed to attend classes.Aghayeva lists her preferred pronouns as she/her on Instagram. She is majoring in neuroscience and political science.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A brawl broke out late last week after a police chief dressed in street clothes tried to arrest a high school girl who allegedly was causing trouble amid a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and now some residents in the southeastern Pennsylvania borough of Quakertown want the chief to resign.The Bucks County Courier Times said a probable cause affidavit provides the first official police account of what led to the arrest of five Quakertown High School students.'Everybody was confused because nobody knew it was a policeman. He was in regular clothes. We were just like, "Why is the man attacking us?"'At least 35 students participated in the Friday walkout to protest ICE, the Courier Times said, citing the affidavit.Quakertown police had been monitoring the protest “from a safe distance” and assisting with road closures after students left the high school campus and headed into the downtown business district, the paper said.More from the Courier Times:Early in the protest Friday police allege they noticed a large group of protesters move into the road in the 100 block of East Broad Street, and a girl kicked a white pickup truck on the passenger side several times and hit the side mirror with her hand, the affidavit said.Protesters also threw “ice balls” at vehicles, stood on public benches, and police approached the group and requested they protest respectfully, and keep the sidewalk clear, the affidavit said.In a statement issued Friday, Quakertown police alleged student protesters threw snowballs at vehicles, kicked cars, and “damaged property such as tearing a side mirror from a car.”The police statement also said that additional officers were called to the scene when confrontations with students escalated “and some individuals assaulted officers.”However, the paper said witnesses and protesters alleged that motorists followed the students and revved their engines, blew exhaust fumes at them, and yelled taunts at the students.The Courier Times, citing the affidavit, said students who continued walking toward Front Street were yelling obscenities “at the officers and in general."RELATED: Praise rolls in for high school suspending hundreds of students over anti-ICE walkout: 'Adults are taking charge' Police said a 15-year-old female protester was seen "numerous times" walking in the road, including in front of moving vehicles and blocking traffic, and she was warned to stay on the sidewalk, the paper reported.An officer allegedly ordered the girl to come across the street to be detained, and when she started to walk away from him, the officer grabbed her arm, the Courier Times said, citing the affidavit.With that, other teen protesters confronted the officer and pulled the girl away, which allowed her to slip into the crowd, the paper said, citing the affidavit.The officer radioed for assistance, the affidavit said, after which Quakertown Police Chief Scott McElree, 72, and a sergeant arrived at the scene. The officer pointed to the girl he was trying to detain, and McElree allegedly attempted to arrest her — but a boy was pulling her away, the affidavit added.More from the Courier Times:After McElree grabbed the boy, he pulled away and struck the chief in the head with his cell phone multiple times, the affidavit said.The boy was eventually taken to the ground and placed in custody after he intervened again attempting to keep McElree away from the 15-year-old girl, according to the document.Multiple teens encircled McElree and began to punch and hit him including the 15-year-old girl that police were originally attempting to detain, the affidavit said.The paper, citing the affidavit, added that a sergeant saw another teen boy dressed in black come up behind McElree and hit him three times on the right side of his face and rib area. With that, the sergeant grabbed the teen, took him down, and placed him in handcuffs, the Courier Times said.RELATED: Juvenile hit by car at student anti-ICE protest in Florida Another police officer saw a girl hit McElree in the head with her backpack while the chief was on the ground grappling with a female protester, the paper said, citing the affidavit.What's more, a detective who responded to the scene allegedly saw a girl punch McElree in the head, after which the detective caught the girl and placed her on the sidewalk, where she allegedly kicked him several times while being handcuffed, the Courier Times said.The girl whom police originally wanted to detain was taken into custody, the paper said, adding that her attorney, Ettore "Ed" Angelo, on Tuesday denied his client had any physical contact with McElree.In all, five students were arrested and taken to juvenile detention.Three of them were released Tuesday, the Courier Times said, adding that the status of the remaining two is unknown, and the Bucks County District Attorney's Office has released no information as of Tuesday. The DA's office on Thursday did not immediately respond to Blaze News' question regarding how many students have been released.Authorities have not released their names, ages, and charges since they're juveniles, but the paper said it confirmed that at least two of the students face felony aggravated assault charges.RELATED: Video shows brawl after high school walkout protester allegedly hit pro-ICE man — and the man is charged with child abuse The Courier Times, citing the affidavit, said McElree was treated at a hospital for nonspecific injuries. The paper added that his face was covered in blood as he left the scene; however, in a cellphone video posted to social media he's heard telling an officer that he was "fine."Since the melee, McElree has been facing increasing backlash, including calls for him to resign. One of the issues is that the chief was not in uniform and allegedly did not identify himself as a police officer, the Courier Times said.Ashley Orellana, a Quakertown High School senior and friend of one of the arrested students, told WPVI-TV that "everybody was confused because nobody knew it was a policeman. He was in regular clothes. We were just like, 'Why is the man attacking us?'"Orellana attended a hearing Tuesday to support one of the defendants, the station said, adding that Robert McMillion, who witnessed his younger sister's arrest, also was in attendance."The chief, the unmarked man, he just started attacking us first, and something should be happening to him instead of the kids," McMillion told WPVI.At a borough council meeting Monday night, parents and community members called for McElree to resign or be fired, the station said.RELATED: Girl says she fought 'old,' 'racist' man with MAGA hat at ICE protest — and excuses fellow teen brawlers Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania alleged that McElree violated his commitment to "serve and protect" his community amid the incident, WHYY-TV reported."By all accounts, including abundant video evidence, there were no issues at the demonstration until Quakertown police arrived and incited violence," Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, told the station in a statement.Walczak added to WHYY that "the police should have been there to facilitate the demonstration, ensuring that the students could safely exercise their rights to assemble and speak out freely as guaranteed by our Constitution. They failed. In abandoning his job and his mission on Friday afternoon, Chief McElree effectively was acting as a counter-protester, albeit one with the ability to arrest people. Quakertown deserves better."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A Christian teacher said he sought a religious exemption when he was ordered to read an LGBTQ book to his first graders, and he was threatened with termination instead.Eric Rivera told WZTV-TV that the book conflicted with his religious beliefs because it depicted a girl being raised by two fathers.'I believe that that is not what God designed a marriage to be and a family to be.'Rivera said that initially the KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School where he taught offered to allow him a co-teacher to read the book to the children and then called him into the principal's office.That's where he was allegedly given a "final warning" to teach the book or lose his job."I refused to read a book that had two fathers on the cover and one daughter," he explained. "I believe that that is not what God designed a marriage to be and a family to be."The book is titled, "Stella Brings the Family," by Miriam B. Schiffer.He claims that he had no prior disciplinary history before the LGBTQ incident. He was reassigned to teach technology before he was moved yet again to teach kindergarten."I still have the fear in me that I could lose my job for anything that I do based on my religious beliefs," Rivera added.The teacher is now represented by the First Liberty Institute, who sent a demand letter to the school asking for an accommodation based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. It was sent Feb. 17 and gave the school 10 days to respond.The institute also expressed concerns that parents may not have been properly informed about the LGBTQ lesson, but WZTV said that accusation was not yet independently verified.The teacher wants to return to teaching first grade but refuses to teach the lesson."I just want the whole curriculum to be shown to the parents in a way where they can actually understand," Rivera said.RELATED: Florida Christians win $70K over anonymous complaint against tiny cross displayed in their yard The charter school falls under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Charter School Commission, which released a statement to WZTV. "All public charter schools must follow the same Tennessee academic standards as traditional public schools, and while they do have flexibility selecting curriculum and materials, they must still be aligned with those same state standards," the commission said in its statement."All schools are required to comply with the prohibited concepts law and must provide a form on their website for reporting violations," it added. "The Commission provides a form for submitting complaints related to the prohibited concepts law as well as any other violations of charter school law on our website. Teachers and staff at charter schools are employees of the school or charter operator and as such all personnel matters are handled by the school." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

President Trump’s State of the Union address has been championed by conservatives everywhere, but BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey took issue with one part of his address: his promotion of IVF.During the address, Trump lauded his new pharmaceutical website, Trump RX, by introducing Catherine Rayner, “the very first customer ever” to get a discount on IVF drugs.“For five years, she and her husband have struggled with infertility, and they turned to IVF. One drug has been costing Catherine $4,000 to purchase. But a few weeks ago, she logged onto the Trump RX website and got that same drug that cost $4,000, got it for under $500,” Trump said proudly.“Catherine, we are all praying for you, and you’re going to be a great mom,” he added.“I think that Trump’s heart is in the right place here. He probably has not grappled with the ethics of IVF. The vast majority of people, Christians and non-Christians, have not grappled with the ethics of IVF. And so he’s thinking, more babies the better,” Stuckey comments.While Stuckey admits that infertility is a real struggle, she doesn’t believe that IVF is an ethical solution.“The problem with in vitro fertilization is that it’s not good for the woman’s body, and it almost always creates embryos that are eugenically tested in a lab and then discarded, or they’re indefinitely frozen. We have over a million embryos on ice right now that have been abandoned that might be adopted one day by strangers and that’s a more redemptive option,” she explains.But that won’t save all the embryos that will just be thrown in the trash — especially those that might be flagged for potential abnormalities.“And as you guys know, it’s possible when you go through IVF to choose the gender that you want to give birth to, it’s possible to get them tested for abnormalities like Down syndrome, discard the ones that are not graded highly enough,” Stuckey says.“The only way to be able to procreate without any ethical quandaries whatsoever is within the context of marriage between one man and one woman through sex. Adoption is a beautifully redemptive option. But surrogacy, egg-selling, sperm-selling, IVF, which basically asks the child to sacrifice its own well-being, its own health, in some cases its own life on behalf of adult desires. That is disordered,” she continues.“And so, that was the one part of the speech that I can think of that I really did not agree with,” she says. “And in fact, if Congress is trying to pass a law that would have us fund IVF, I will be calling my representatives, my senators, and I will be encouraging you to do the same because I don’t want to fund more slaughter of babies.”“More embryos, unborn lives are killed through the IVF industry than through the abortion industry every year. That really matters,” she adds.Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.