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Tufts grad student arrested by ICE in Somerville, sent to Louisiana
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national, was detained in Somerville Tuesday night when she left her home to break her Ramadan fast. Tufts officials were told that Ozturk's visa status was terminated.
A graduate student at Tufts University was detained by federal authorities Tuesday evening.
The student, Rumeysa Ozturk, is a Turkish national and fulbright Scholar who is pursuing her PhD in the university’s Child Study and Human Development department.
Ozturk was apparently associated with pro-Palestine activism on campus. federal officials told school leaders that her visa status was terminated. A judge has ordered ICE not to move Ozturk outside of Massachusetts without prior notice.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Ozturk’s lawyer did not know her location.
“As of 1 p.m. today, nearly 20 hours from when she was detained, I still have not been told where my client is. This is very bizarre and concerning. No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of,” Khanbabai said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
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By Wednesday evening, ICE records indicated that Ozturk was being held in Louisiana. The agency’s Online Detainee Locator System listed her as being detained at the South Louisiana Correctional Center in Basile, La.
The incident has many parallels to the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate student at Columbia University and Palestinian activist on their campus. Ozturk earned her master’s degree from the Teachers College at Columbia University before coming to Tufts, according to her LinkedIn.
In an email to the Tufts community on Tuesday night, university President Sunil Kumar confirmed that an international graduate student was arrested outside of an off-campus apartment building in Somerville.
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“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 wrote.
Kumar was told about the student’s visa status being terminated, he wrote, and administrators are working to confirm whether that is true. Kumar did not identify Ozturk by name, and said that the university could not provide any additional information about the incident.
Spokespeople for ICE did not respond to a request for information Wednesday morning.
Ozturk’s identity was confirmed through court documents and a statement from her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai. Ozturk was “maintaining valid f-1 status” while at Tufts, Khanbabai said.
Ozturk was going to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast on Tuesday night when she was detained near her home in Somerville by federal agents, according to Khanbabai.
WCVB posted video of the arrest Wednesday morning.
Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts, said that the video’s contents were alarming and that Ozturk should be released immediately.
“Nobody should be disappeared from the streets of Somerville – or anywhere in America,” Rossman said in a statement. “Everyone should be alarmed by what’s shown in the video of Ms. Ozturk being handcuffed and taken away by agents. The government must immediately release her to her friends and community in Massachusetts.”
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Khanbabai filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, requesting that Ozturk not be moved out of state. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani ordered Ozturk not be moved without prior notice. While U.S. District Court does not generally have a role in deportation proceedings, it does have jurisdiction over habeas petitions, Talwani wrote. This includes the power to “preserve the status quo.”
If Ozturk is to be moved out of the state, Talwani ordered federal officials to provide advanced notice in writing, explaining the reason why the government believes that a move like that is necessary.
Talwani ordered ICE officials to respond to the petition by friday.
The federal government appears to be using allegations of antisemitism to crack down on international students associated with protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Multiple international human rights groups have determined that Israeli forces are committing genocide there.
The Department of Education sent letters to 60 universities, including Tufts, earlier this month. Officials warned the schools that federal funding could be cut off unless they display “scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon specifically mentioned Jewish students who “continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year.”
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Last spring, as college students across the country set up encampments and protested the war in Gaza, Tufts was often in the news. In October, the university suspended a pro-Palestinian student group that helped organize protests. The group later announced that it was formally disaffiliating from the university.
Last March, Ozturk helped author an op-ed that appeared in The Tufts Daily regarding the university’s response to protests. Ozturk and other “Graduate Students for Palestine” criticized how university officials responded to resolutions passed by the Tufts Community Union Senate.
These resolutions demanded the university “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and “disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.” The response to the resolution from administrators was “wholly inadequate and dismissive,” Ozturk and others wrote.
Reyyan Bilge, a psychology professor at Northeastern University, said in a social media post that she has known Ozturk for more than ten years, and vouched for her character.
In an interview with The Boston Globe, Bilge said that Ozturk is “not anti-Israel” but is concerned by the human rights abuses regularly perpetrated against Palestinians. She said that Ozturk’s freedom of speech was being infringed upon.
“It’s so dystopic. And you come to the US thinking that it’s going to be all wonderful,” Bilge said. “It’s distressing.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren weighed in Wednesday afternoon.
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“This arrest is the latest in an alarming pattern to stifle civil liberties. The Trump admin is targeting students with legal status and ripping people out of their communities without due process. This is an attack on our Constitution and basic freedoms — and we will push back,” she said in a social media post.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley called for Ozturk’s immediate release and labeled the incident a “horrifying violation” of Ozturk’s “constitutional rights to due process and free speech.”
An “emergency rally” in support of Ozturk is scheduled to take place Wednesday evening in Powderhouse Park in Somerville. In a social media post promoting the rally, a group called the Muslim Justice League said that Ozturk was “likely targeted after being doxxed by Canary Mission” and that her home had been “watched for 2 days before she was abducted.”
Canary Mission is a group that says it “documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond.” It has a webpage dedicated to Ozturk, accusing her of “anti-Israel activism.” The group shared information about Ozturk’s education history and classes she taught at Tufts.
Talwani’s ruling can be read below:
Ozturk ruling by Ross Cristantiello on Scribd
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