United States immigration authorities have arrested and revoked the visa of a Turkish doctoral scholar at Tufts College close to Boston who had voiced assist for Palestinians throughout Israel’s conflict in Gaza.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, had left her house in Somerville on Tuesday night time to satisfy buddies and break her Ramadan quick when she was arrested by Division of Homeland Safety brokers, lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai mentioned in a petition filed in Boston federal court docket.
Ozturk’s supporters say her detention is the primary identified immigration arrest of a Boston-area scholar engaged in such activism to be carried out beneath President Donald Trump.
His administration has detained or sought to detain several foreign-born students who’re legally within the US and have been concerned in pro-Palestinian protests.
The actions have been condemned as an assault on free speech, although the Trump administration argues that sure protests are anti-Semitic and may undermine US international coverage.
US Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a publish on X mentioned authorities decided Ozturk “engaged in actions in assist of Hamas, a international terrorist organisation that relishes the killing of Individuals”.
“A visa is a privilege, not a proper,” McLaughlin mentioned.
Rumesya Ozturk is a Turkish nationwide & Tufts College graduate scholar, granted the privilege to be on this nation on a visa.
DHS + ICE investigations discovered Ozturk engaged in actions in assist of Hamas, a international terrorist group that relishes the killing of… pic.twitter.com/3sBE6yO8db
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) March 26, 2025
She didn’t specify what actions. However Ozturk’s arrest got here a 12 months after the coed co-authored an opinion piece within the college’s scholar paper, the Tufts Each day, that criticised Tufts’ response to calls by college students to divest from corporations with ties to Israel and to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”.
“Based mostly on patterns we’re seeing throughout the nation, her exercising her free speech rights seems to have performed a job in her detention,” Khanbabai mentioned.
‘Seemed like a kidnapping’
Following Ozturk’s arrest, Khanbabai filed a lawsuit late Tuesday arguing she was unlawfully detained, prompting US District Choose Indira Talwani in Boston that night time to order US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to not transfer Ozturk out of Massachusetts with out at the very least 48 hours discover.
Regardless of the decide’s order, by Wednesday afternoon, Khanbabai in a movement mentioned she had been unable to find her consumer in New England and had simply been knowledgeable by a US senator’s workplace that Ozturk was transferred to Louisiana. She sought a court docket order requiring ICE to allow entry to Ozturk.
The scholar’s detention was condemned by Democratic lawmakers, together with US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who mentioned the “arrest is the most recent in an alarming sample to stifle civil liberties”. A rally in her assist was anticipated later Wednesday in Somerville.
Neighbours mentioned they had been left rattled by the arrest, which performed out at 5:30pm on a residential block.
“It appeared like a kidnapping,” mentioned Michael Mathis, a 32-year-old software program engineer whose surveillance digicam picked up the footage of the arrest. “They method her and begin grabbing her with their faces lined. They’re protecting their faces. They’re in unmarked autos.”
The Trump administration has focused worldwide college students because it seeks to crack down on immigration, together with ramping up immigration arrests and sharply proscribing border crossings.
Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, specifically, have pledged to deport international pro-Palestinian protesters, accusing them of supporting Hamas militants, posing hurdles for US international coverage, and being anti-Semitic.
Protesters, together with some Jewish teams, say the administration wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel and assist for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism and assist for Hamas.
Focusing on college college students
Ozturk is a Fulbright Scholar and scholar in Tufts’ doctoral programme for youngster examine and human growth, in line with her LinkedIn profile, and had beforehand studied at Columbia College in New York.
She has been within the nation on an F-1 visa, which permits college students to reside within the US whereas finding out, in line with the lawsuit.
In an announcement, Tufts president Sunil Kumar mentioned the college had no advance information of the arrest, which he recognised can be “distressing to some members of our neighborhood, notably the members of our worldwide neighborhood”.
Ozturk was taken into custody lower than three weeks after Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia College graduate and lawful everlasting resident, was equally arrested. He’s difficult his detention after Trump, with out proof, accused him of supporting Hamas, which Khalil denies.
Federal immigration officers are additionally searching for to detain a South Korean-born Columbia College scholar who’s a authorized everlasting US resident and has participated in pro-Palestinian protests, a transfer blocked by the courts for now.
A Lebanese physician and assistant professor at Brown College in Rhode Island this month was denied re-entry to the US and deported to Lebanon after the Trump administration alleged that her cellphone contained pictures “sympathetic” to Hezbollah. Rasha Alawieh mentioned she doesn’t assist the group however holds regard for its slain chief due to her faith.
The Trump administration has additionally focused college students at Cornell College in New York and Georgetown College in Washington.
