BOSTON: A lawyer for a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University who was detained by US Department of Homeland Security agents filed an emergency motion Thursday requesting that the government produce her.
The request was made a day after Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was stopped by masked federal agents after she left her home in Somerville, Massachusetts. A federal judge presiding over her case ordered lawyers representing the government to respond to the motion Thursday morning.
Video obtained by The Associated Press appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking away Ozturk’s phone as she yells and is handcuffed on Wednesday.
“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?”
US 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 US Immigration and Custom Enforcement said Thursday that Ozturk was being held at a detention center in Basile, Louisiana, and has spoken to her lawyer. A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson also confirmed Ozturk’s detention and the termination of her visa.
“DHS and (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) investigations found 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. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is common sense security,” the spokesperson told the AP.
The DHS did not provide examples of Ozturk’s support of Hamas, which is designated by the US government as a terrorist organization.
The arrest appears to be part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport students who, he said, engage in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” applying it broadly to those who criticize Israel and protest its military campaign in Gaza.
Hamas’ invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 50,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and destroyed much of the enclave.
Ozturk, who is Muslim, was meeting friends for iftar, a meal that breaks a fast at sunset during Ramadan, her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai said.
She said no charges have been filed against Ozturk.
“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. “The university is actively working to support the Tufts community as it mobilizes its collective resources and contacts to ensure our students’ safety and wellbeing.”
Ozturk was one of four students last March who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily 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, a website that describes itself as documenting people who “promote hatred of the USA., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”
Friends of Ozturk’s say she did not play a prominent role in campus protests that erupted last spring against the Israel’s military in Gaza.
“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,” said Jennifer Hoyden, a friend and former classmate of Ozturk’s at Columbia University’s Teachers College.
“She came to this country seeking to expand her knowledge and contribute to a peaceful society,” Hoyden added. “I cannot stress enough how peaceful and kind and gentle she is as a human being.”