Tufts scholar from Turkey threatened with deportation, newest Palestinian supporter swept up in crackdown

BOSTON (AP) — A Turkish scholar detained by federal officers as she walked alongside a road in a Boston suburb is the newest supporter of Palestinian causes to be swept up within the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants who’ve expressed their political beliefs.

Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, a doctoral scholar at Tufts College, was swiftly moved out of Massachusetts, an indication of how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is sending immigrants who’re taken into custody to detention facilities or deporting them altogether earlier than a federal choose has an opportunity to weigh in on their case and presumably halt the actions.

READ MORE: Columbia College scholar says his detention reveals anti-Palestinian racism in U.S.

Ozturk, who was detained Tuesday shortly after she left her residence in Somerville, had been moved to an ICE detention middle in Louisiana by the point her lawyer went to court docket and a choose ordered her to be stored in Massachusetts, U.S. authorities legal professionals stated in a court docket doc Thursday. They stated they made her legal professionals conscious that she was being moved and facilitated contact together with her Wednesday evening.

A senior Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson stated federal authorities detained Ozturk after an investigation discovered she had “engaged in actions in help of Hamas, a overseas terrorist group that relishes the killing of Individuals.” The division didn’t present proof of that help.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the Trump administration has revoked the visas of not less than 300 individuals, together with Ozturk: “We do it each day.”

“We gave you a visa to return and examine and get a level, to not grow to be a social activist, to tear up our college campuses,” Rubio instructed reporters throughout a cease in Guyana.

Pals say Ozturk wasn’t very concerned in protests

Pals and colleagues of Ozturk stated she was not intently concerned in pro-Palestinian protests that broke out on campuses final spring. Her solely recognized activism, they stated, was co-authoring an op-ed in a scholar newspaper that known as on Tufts College to have interaction with scholar calls for to chop ties with Israel.

“The one factor I do know of that Rumeysa organized was a Thanksgiving potluck,” stated Jennifer Hoyden, an in depth good friend who studied with Ozturk at Columbia College’s Lecturers Faculty. “There’s a vital distinction between writing a letter supporting the coed Senate and taking the form of motion they’re accusing her of, which I’ve seen no proof of.”

Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in an assault that killed some 1,200 individuals, principally civilians. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed greater than 50,000 individuals, based on Gaza’s Well being Ministry, and destroyed a lot of the enclave.

Ozturk’s arrest seems to be a part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport college students who, he stated, interact in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American exercise,” a label the administration has utilized broadly to those that criticize Israel and protest its navy marketing campaign in Gaza.

Earlier this month, immigration enforcement brokers arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a authorized U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who performed a distinguished half in protests at Columbia final 12 months. He’s now going through potential deportation.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney specialist from Lebanon who was attributable to begin as an assistant professor at Brown College, was deported earlier this month — after a federal choose ordered that she not be eliminated till a listening to could possibly be held. Homeland Safety officers stated Alawieh was deported, regardless of having a U.S. visa, as a result of she “brazenly admitted” supporting a Hezbollah chief.

A College of Alabama scholar has additionally been detained by ICE, the college confirmed. The Crimson White, the coed newspaper, reported that Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral scholar from Iran finding out mechanical engineering, had been detained. However neither college nor the newspaper defined why Doroudi had been taken into ICE custody.

ICE officers approached Ozturk on the road

Video obtained by The Related Press seems to point out six individuals, all however one with their faces coated, taking away a shouting Ozturk’s telephone earlier than she is handcuffed.

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

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

Ozturk, who’s Muslim, was assembly associates for iftar, a meal that breaks a quick at sundown throughout Ramadan, based on her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai.

Khanbabai, who stated no expenses have been filed towards Ozturk, filed a petition looking for her launch Tuesday after which an emergency movement Wednesday.

U.S. District Choose Indira Talwani initially issued an order giving the federal government till Friday to reply why Ozturk was being detained. Talwani additionally ordered that Ozturk not be moved outdoors the District of Massachusetts with out 48 hours advance discover.

The federal government stated in its response Thursday that it “will set forth the timeline” of Ozturk’s arrest and switch from Massachusetts.

The ability the place she’s being held is one in every of 9 in Louisiana that home immigrants ready for authorized proceedings or deportation, based on a 2024 report on ICE’s web site. It’s located on the outskirts of Basile, a rural city about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Lafayette.

“We’re in contact with native, state, and federal elected officers and hope that Rumeysa is offered the chance to avail herself of her due course of rights,” Tufts College President Sunil Kumar stated in an announcement Wednesday evening.

Ozturk was one in every of 4 college students who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Every day final March criticizing the college’s response to scholar calls for that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from firms with direct or oblique ties to Israel.

After the op-ed was revealed, Ozturk’s title, {photograph} and work historical past had been revealed on the web site Canary Mission, which describes itself as documenting individuals who “promote hatred of the united statesA., Israel and Jews on North American faculty campuses.”

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