A Turkish doctoral student who was grabbed off the street by plain-clothes federal agents -- in apparent retaliation for her op-ed criticizing Israel -- says her arrest and ongoing detention won’t stop her from speaking out.
Tufts University’s PhD student #Rumeysa #Ozturk
— among several international students targeted for removal from the country for their Palestinian advocacy
— remains in detention in a Louisiana facility while her lawyers argue in court for her release.
She has not been accused of a crime, and the government’s only apparent evidence against her is an op-ed in a student newspaper.

Attempts from Donald Trump’s administration to keep her in custody
“will not deter me from my commitment to advocate for the rights of youth and children,”
she said in a statement through her attorney on Thursday.

Last year, Ozturk co-authored an op-ed in The Tufts Daily newspaper calling on the university to divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel in an effort to hold Israel accountable “for clear violations of international law.”
“Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide,”
says the op-ed, which was written with three other students and endorsed by 32 others.

Ozturk is working towards her doctorate at the Eliot-Pearson Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
She received her master’s degree in developmental psychology from Teachers College at Columbia University, where she was a Fulbright scholar
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/rumeysa-ozturk-tufts-ice-court-hearing-b2727114.html

"There are many, many stunning and unprecedented things happening in Trump’s America right now. But I chose to write about this one because, frankly, once you have watched the chilling video of masked government goons snatching Ozturk off the street in broad daylight, it is hard to think — let alone write — about anything else."

~ Will Bunch

#Trump #ICE #immigrants #fascism #Ozturk
/1

The gift link below is from Greg Dworkin at Daily Kos.

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/rumeysa-ozturk-arrested-ice-tufts-20250327.html?id=Fy4KVluJADvGf&utm_source=social&utm_campaign=gift_link&utm_medium=referral

The US is descending into an authoritarian fascist dictatorship. Terrifying for all (foreign) students and their basic rights. Today its students; tomorrow it will be you. #Rumeysa #Ozturk

The Trump administration has detained a Tufts University graduate student exactly one year after she coauthored a plea for "the equal dignity and humanity of all people," including Palestinians.

#Rumeysa #Ozturk, a native of Turkey,
was "ambushed" late Tuesday outside her apartment,
according to a statement that her attorney provided to The Boston Globe.

Neighbors had seen agents in unmarked cars monitoring her apartment for two days prior to the arrest, the outlet reported.

Her arrest comes after the pro-Israel group #CanaryMission flagged Ozturk for having "engaged in anti-Israel activism in March 2024."

That activism, according to the group, consisted entirely of co-authoring an op-ed in The Tufts Daily, a student newspaper,
in which she and three other graduate students called on the school to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide" and divest from companies with ties to Israel, as called for in resolutions passed by the student Senate.

"We, as graduate students, affirm the equal dignity and humanity of all people," the students wrote in the article, published March 26, 2024.

Tufts University President Sunil Kumar acknowledged Ozturk's arrest in a Tuesday night statement that identified her only as an "international graduate student."

"From what we've been told subsequently, the student's visa has been terminated, and we seek to confirm whether that information is true," Kumar said.

Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk's attorney, told Salon that her client has a valid F-1 student visa and was "heading to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast" when she was detained by DHS agents outside her home.

"We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her. No charges have been filed against [her] that we are aware of," Khanbabai said in a statement.

In a statement to Salon, a Trump administration spokesperson asserted, without providing evidence, that "DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas." The spokesperson did not suggest Ozturk had committed any crime, and confirmed that she had permission to be in the U.S. as a foreign student, but said that a "visa is a privilege not a right."

"Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated," the spokesperson said. "This is commonsense security.”

As of Wednesday morning, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee database identified Ozturk as being "In ICE Custody." It did not list a location.

https://www.salon.com/2025/03/26/dhs-detains-grad-student-advocated-for-palestine-and-the-humanity-of-all-people/