US detains, revokes visa of Turkish student at Tufts who co-wrote an anti-Israel op-ed
Department of Homeland Security accuses Rumeysa Ozturk of ‘engaging in activities in support of Hamas’ after piece in school paper called for divesting from Israeli firms amid war
US immigration authorities late Tuesday detained a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University near Boston who voiced support for divesting from Israel amid the war with Hamas 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 US and have been involved in pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli 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 US 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.
US 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.
Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk was detained by ICE.
A video shared with GBH News shows a man in a hoodie approach her, then grab her wrists. Ozturk screams, then asks “Can I call the police?” before being told “We’re the police.”https://t.co/6dwvEmqjVr@sweetadelinevt @GBHNews pic.twitter.com/NAAgGVpp9G
— Tori Bedford (@Tori_Bedford) March 26, 2025
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 the university’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 US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that night to order US 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 US 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 US 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 terrorists, posing hurdles for US 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.”
Later Wednesday, hundreds of people demonstrated in a Somerville park, with speaker after speaker demanding her release and accusing both major political parties of failing to protect immigrants and stand up for Palestinians.
“Free Rumeysa Ozturk now,” the crowd chanted, along with traditional protest slogans such as “Free, free Palestine.” Many held Palestinian flags and homemade signs supporting her and opposing ICE.
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 accused him of supporting Hamas, which Khalil denies.
Federal immigration officials are also seeking to detain South Korean-born Columbia University student Yunseo Chung, who is a legal permanent US resident and has participated in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel, a move blocked by the courts for now.
Both Khalil and Chung took part in a protest at Barnard College earlier this month during which activists handed out pamphlets from the “Hamas media office.”
The Trump administration has also targeted students at Cornell University in New York and Georgetown University in Washington.
