Tufts University grad student detained
Views on Gaza made her a target, protesters say
By: Fernando Cervantes Jr.
USA Today
SOMERVILLE, Massachusetts - Federal agents have detained an international graduate student studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts, prompting demonstrators to vow to fight back at rally near campus on Wednesday. [03/26/2025]
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained 20-year-old Turkisk national Rumeysa Ozturk, who was in the country on a valid F-1 visa, near her home on Tuesday [03/25/2025] as she was on her way to meet friends to break her Ramadan fast, her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, told USA Today on Wednesday. [03/26/2025]
..... A senior Homeland Security Department spokesperson told USA Today on Wednesday [03/26/2025] the investigators found that Ozturk "engaged in activities in support of Hamas," a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
..... "A visa is a privilege, not a right," said the spokesperson, who declined to be named.
..... "Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. this is commonsense security."
..... Khanbabai, who spoke to USA Today before the agency lodged the allegations involving Hamas, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the development.
..... Earlier in the day, she said that she did not know where her client was being held after ICE detained Ozturk. "The government has not told me where my client is located," Khanbabai said Wednesday [03/26/2025] afternoon.
..... "This is incredibly concerning."
..... Demonstrators decried the reason for Ozturk's detention at a protest later in the day.
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"I think it should be clear to everyone now that this is just how they smear people for speaking out," Fatema Ahmad, executive director of the Muslim Justice League, told USA Today. "It's a way to try to scare people, to suppress people."
Judge's order to ICE
..... In court filings obtained by USA Today, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani ordered ICE to keep Ozturk in Massachusetts, as well as provide 48-hour notice if the agency want to move her outside the state and justify why. Moreover, the judge also issued an order that give immigration officials until Friday [03/28/2025] to respond to a filing to have her appear in court.
..... "We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able t contact her, Khanbabai said.
..... "No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of."
..... The Homeland Security spokesperson did not immediately respond to follow-up questions from USA Today about whether Ozturk has been charged or where she's being held.
..... An ICE detainee locator showed that Ozturk was being held in a Louisiana detention facility.
..... Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said in a Tuesday [03/25/2025] night email that the school was told that Ozturk's visa was terminated and was working to conform that information.
..... "The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event, and the location where this took place is not affiliated with Tufts University," Kumar said.
Student groups rally
..... Ozturk is "soft-spoken, kind and gentle soul" and "is not an activist person," Reyyan Bilge, a psychology professor at Northeastern University who identified herself as a longtime fried of Ozturk's said in an interview with the Associated Press.
..... "She does not carry a hateful bone in her body let alone being antisemitic," Bilge posted on X.
..... "I wholeheartedly vouch for her and unless we speak up, these horrific events will continue to happen!" Two student organizations called for an emergency rally in support of Ozturk near Tufts University on Wednesday [03/26/2025] afternoon. At the rally, demonstrators held signs that said "Free Rumeysa Ozturk!" and "Today Rumeysa, tomorrow any one of us.
..... Last March, [2024] Oztuck co-wrote an opinion piece published in The Tufts Daily, the school's student newspaper, that called on Tufts to divest form Israeli corporations and "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide."
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Lea Kayali with the Palestinian Youth Movement, one of the demonstrators at Wednesday's [03/26/2025] rally, shouted in a megaphone: "Even though she (Ozturk) may not consider herself an activists, she has more courage in the hand she wrote that article with than all of Trump's cronies combined."
Other student targeted
..... Ozturk's arrest comes following the Trump administration's executive order that seeks to deport non-citizens of the U.S. involved in pro-Palestinian protests.|
..... Earlier this month, [2025] ICE agents arrested Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil on accusations that he led activities aligned with Hamas, Khalil's attorneys have said he is a green card holder married to an American citizen, and are challenging the validity of the arrest and detention.
..... "This is the first arrest of many to come," Trump said in a social media post celebrating Khalil's detention. "We will find, apprehend and deport these terrorist supporters from our country - never to return again." Khalil acted as a lead negotiator for student protesters calling on the university to cut ties with Israel amid the war in Gaza, end student-exchange programs, and close Columbia's campus in Tel Aviv, as well as demonstrate financial transparency on the school's investments.
..... Days later, a Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow from India, Badar Khan Suri, was also detained by ICE agents after being told that his visa had been revoked.
..... Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse, Trevor Hughes and Eduardo Cuvas, USA Today, Reuters.