Donald Trump administration detains Turkish student at Tufts, revokes visa

U.S. In-migration authorities tardily tues detained a Turkish doctorial educatee at Tufts University near Boston who had voiced support for Palestinians during Israel's war in Gaza and have revoked her visa.

Rumeysa Ozturk's supporters say her detention is the first known immigration arrest of a Boston-area student engaged in such activism to be carried out by President Donald Trump's administration, which has detained or sought to detain several foreign-born students who are legally in the U.S. And have been involved in pro-Palestinian protests.

The actions have been condemned as an assault on free speech, though the Trump administration argues that certain protests are antisemitic and can undermine U.S. Foreign policy.

The 30-year-old Turkish national was taken into custody near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Tuesday evening while she was heading to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast, according to her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a post on X said authorities determined Ozturk "engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans."

"A visa is a privilege not a right," McLaughlin said.

She did not specify what activities. But her arrest came a year after Ozturk co-authored an opinion piece in the school's student paper, the Tufts Daily, that criticized Tuft's response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide."

"Based on patterns we are seeing across the country, her exercising her free speech rights appear to have played a role in her detention," Khanbabai said.

Following Ozturk's arrest, Khanbabai filed a lawsuit late Tuesday arguing she was unlawfully detained, prompting U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that night to order U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to not move Ozturk out of Massachusetts without at least 48 hours notice.

Despite the judge's order, by Wednesday afternoon, Khanbabai in a motion said she had been unable to locate her client in New England and had just been informed by a U.S. Senator's office that Ozturk was transferred to Louisiana. She sought a court order requiring ICE to permit access to Ozturk.

The student's detention was condemned by Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who said the "arrest is the latest in an alarming pattern to stifle civil liberties." A rally in her support was expected later Wednesday in Somerville.

The Trump administration has targeted international students as it seeks to crack down on immigration, including ramping up immigration arrests and sharply restricting border crossings.

Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio in particular have pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters, accusing them of supporting Hamas militants, posing hurdles for U.S. Foreign policy, and of being antisemitic.

Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the administration wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas.

Ozturk is a Fulbright Scholar and student in Tufts' doctoral program for Child Study and Human Development, according to her LinkedIn profile, and had previously studied at Columbia University in New York.

She has been in the country on an F-1 visa, which allows living in the United States while studying, according to the lawsuit.

Tufts President Sunil Kumar in a statement said the school had no advance knowledge of the arrest, which he recognized would be "distressing to some members of our community, particularly the members of our international community."

Ozturk was taken into custody less than three weeks after Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and lawful permanent resident, was similarly arrested. He is challenging his detention after Trump, without evidence, accused him of supporting Hamas, which Khalil denies.

Federal immigration officials are also seeking to detain a South Korean-born Columbia University student who is a legal permanent U.S. Resident and has participated in pro-Palestinian protests, a move blocked by the courts for now.

A Lebanese doctor and assistant professor at Brown University in Rhode Island this month was denied re-entry to the U.S. And deported to Lebanon after the Trump administration alleged that her phone contained photos "sympathetic" to Hezbollah. Dr. Rasha Alawieh said she does not support the militant group but held regard for its slain leader because of her religion.

The Trump administration has also targeted students at Cornell University in New York and Georgetown University in Washington.

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