Turkish student at Tufts University is latest Palestinian supporter swept up in US crackdown

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration has revoked the visas of at least 300 people, including Ozturk: “We do it every day."

“We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist, to tear up our university campuses," Rubio told reporters during a stop in Guyana.

Friends and colleagues of Ozturk said she was not closely involved in pro-Palestinian protests that broke out on campuses last spring. Her only known activism, they said, was co-authoring an op-ed in a student newspaper that called on Tufts University to engage with student demands to cut ties with Israel.

“The only thing I know of that Rumeysa organized was a Thanksgiving potluck,” said Jennifer Hoyden, a friend who studied with Ozturk at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “There’s a very important distinction between writing a letter supporting the student Senate and taking the kind of action they’re accusing her of, which I’ve seen no evidence of.”

Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in an attack that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and during which about 250 hostages were seized. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 50,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and destroyed much of the enclave.

Ozturk’s arrest appears to be part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport students he said engage in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” a label the administration has applied broadly to those who criticize Israel and protest its military campaign in Gaza.

Earlier this month, immigration enforcement agents arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who played a prominent part in protests at Columbia last year. He is now facing possible deportation.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney specialist from Lebanon who was due to start as an assistant professor at Brown University, was deported this month — after a federal judge ordered that she not be removed until a hearing could be held. Homeland Security officials said Alawieh was deported despite having a U.S. visa because she “openly admitted” supporting a Hezbollah leader.

A University of Alabama student was also detained this week by ICE, his lawyer confirmed. There was no indication that Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student from Iran studying mechanical engineering who was detained Tuesday, was involved in any protests, said attorney David Rozas.

“With the words of his fiancé, he is a nerd. All he does is study and is literally trying to fulfill his dream, the American dream, of becoming a researcher and professor of mechanical engineering,” Rozas said.

On Thursday evening, a few hundred people turned out at Somerville City Hall to rally for Ozturk’s release and for the greater Palestinian cause.

Speakers railed against Israel over the war in Gaza as well as the ICE raids that protesters said have left immigrant communities terrified. They also sang songs supporting the Palestinians — sometimes accompanied by a horn section — and led the crowd in chants of “Resistance Is justified when people are occupied.”

Among the speakers was Lebanese American Carina Kurban who said she was furious when she heard about the arrest of Ozturk and other scholars.

“I was born here. I’m a U.S. citizen, and I need to use that privilege that I have to speak up for those who can’t because of everything that’s happening with this administration,” Kurban said.

“America was built on free speech, so if we don’t have that, then what?” she added. “Then where do we go?”

Video obtained by The Associated Press appeared to show six people, all but one with their faces covered, taking away a shouting Ozturk’s phone before she was handcuffed on Tuesday.

“We’re the police,” members of the group are heard saying in the video.

A bystander is heard asking, “Why are you hiding your faces?”

Ozturk, who is Muslim, was meeting friends for iftar, a meal that breaks a fast at sunset during Ramadan, according to her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai.

Khanbabai, who said no charges have been filed against Ozturk, filed a petition seeking her release Tuesday and then an emergency motion Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani initially issued an order giving the government until Friday to answer why Ozturk was being detained. Talwani also ordered that Ozturk not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours advance notice.

The government said in its response Thursday that it “will set forth the timeline” of Ozturk's arrest and transfer from Massachusetts.

The facility where she's being held is one of nine in Louisiana that house immigrants waiting for legal proceedings or deportation, according to a 2024 report on ICE’s website. It's situated on the outskirts of Basile, a rural town about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Lafayette.

“We are in touch with local, state, and federal elected officials and hope that Rumeysa is provided the opportunity to avail herself of her due process rights,” Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said in a statement Wednesday night.

Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily last March criticizing the university’s response to student demands that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.

After the op-ed was published, Ozturk’s name, photograph and work history were published on the website Canary Mission, which describes itself as documenting people who “promote hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”

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Associated Press writers Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.