The detention of a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University by masked U.S. agents without any explanation late Tuesday has sparked outrage and condemnation from Türkiye and the United States.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Rumeysa Öztürk late Tuesday near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, while heading to an iftar dinner to break her fast during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, according to her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai.
She was taken into custody by masked federal agents in broad daylight, with authorities claiming she engaged in activities supporting the Palestinian group Hamas – an allegation her family and advocates strongly deny.
No charges have been filed against Ozturk, according to her lawyer.
‘Looks like kidnapping’
A video obtained by The Associated Press (AP) appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking away Öztürk’s phone as she is handcuffed, despite her not resisting.
“We’re the police,” members of the group are heard saying in the video.
A man is heard asking, “Why are you hiding your faces?”
Neighbors said they were rattled by the arrest, which happened at 5:30 p.m. on a residential block.
“It looked like a kidnapping,” said Michael Mathis, a 32-year-old software engineer whose surveillance camera captured the arrest. “They approach her and start grabbing her with their faces covered. They’re covering their faces. They’re in unmarked vehicles.”
Democratic U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley called the arrest “a horrifying violation of Rumeysa’s constitutional rights to due process and free speech.”
“She must be immediately released,” Pressley said in a statement. “We won’t stand by while the Trump Administration continues to abduct students with legal status and attack our fundamental freedoms.”
Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib slammed the detention, warning of escalating government repression.
“The Trump administration is abducting people off the streets,” Tlaib wrote on Instagram.
“They are starting with people who stand up for Palestinians and human rights … but they won’t stop there. Next will be environmental justice and abortion care advocates, those fighting corporate greed, union members and others resisting Project 2025,” she added, referring to the conservative blueprint for a second Trump term.
Senator Elizabeth Warren also criticized the administration’s actions, calling them part of a broader assault on fundamental rights.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell called the video “disturbing.”
“Based on what we now know, it is alarming that the federal administration chose to ambush and detain her, apparently targeting a law-abiding individual because of her political views,” she said. “This isn’t public safety, it’s intimidation that will, and should, be closely scrutinized in court.”
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued an order giving the government until Friday to answer why Öztürk was being detained. Talwani also ordered that Öztürk not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours’ advance notice.
However, as of Wednesday evening, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s online detainee locator system listed her as being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana.
A senior DHS spokesperson confirmed Öztürk’s detention and the termination of her visa.
“DHS and (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) investigations found Öztürk 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.
‘Anti-Israel activism’
Öztürk was one of four students last March who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily criticizing the university’s response to its community union Senate passing resolutions that demanded Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.
Friends said Öztürk was not otherwise closely involved in protests against Israel. But after the piece was published, her name, photo and work history were featured by Canary Mission, a website that says it documents people who “promote hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.” The op-ed was the only cited example of “anti-Israel activism” by Öztürk.
Trump’s crackdown
Öztürk’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 U.S. and have been involved in pro-Palestinian protests.
The actions have been condemned as an assault on free speech, while the Trump administration says that some protests can undermine foreign policy.
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 the Hamas resistance group, posing hurdles for U.S. foreign policy and being anti-Semitic.
Öztürk 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 Khanbabai filed on her behalf.
“Based on patterns we are seeing across the country, her exercising her free speech rights appears to have played a role in her detention,” Khanbabai said.
Protests, outrage
Hundreds of people demonstrated in a park later Wednesday, 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 Öztürk 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.
Zoi Andalcio, a Somerville business owner, said he came out with his wife and 3-year-old son to speak against the “maddening” arrest of Öztürk and others.
“I’m outraged like everybody else about these disappearances, kidnappings of legal noncitizens, who may or may not have spoken out against the atrocious foreign policy of the United States government,” Andalcio said.
Roz Nazzaro, who held a sign that read “Hands Off,” said she fears the country is heading into an era of “Nazism” in which people just disappear.
“There is no distinction between undocumented immigrants, documented immigrants, green cards,” said Nazzaro, a retired college administrator from Winchester, Massachusetts. “It’s going to be the citizens next, if you’re the wrong color, wear a hijab.”
Reyyan Bilge, a psychology professor at Northeastern University and friend, described Öztürk as a “soft-spoken, kind and gentle soul,” deeply focused on research and not closely involved in the campus protests.
Bilge and Öztürk met in Istanbul, where Bilge supervised her thesis before working on cognitive research and publishing papers together. They remained close after Öztürk arrived in the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship in 2018.
“Over the 10 years I’ve known her, she’s never spoken badly to anyone else, let alone being antisemitic or racist,” Bilge said.
Countrywide pattern
Öztürk 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, without evidence, accused him of supporting Hamas, which Khalil denies.
Federal immigration officials are also seeking to detain a South Korean-born Columbia University student who is a legal permanent U.S. resident and has participated in pro-Palestinian protests, a move blocked by the courts for now.
A Lebanese doctor and assistant professor at Brown University in Rhode Island this month was denied re-entry to the U.S. and deported to Lebanon after the Trump administration alleged that her phone contained photos “sympathetic” to Hezbollah. Dr. Rasha Alawieh said she does not support the group but holds regard for its slain leader because of her religion.
The Trump administration has also targeted students at Cornell University in New York and Georgetown University in Washington.
Türkiye vows action
The Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., said Wednesday that it is closely monitoring Öztürk’s detention.
The embassy said in a statement that it contacted ICE and other authorities over Öztürk’s detention.
“The situation of our citizen Rumeysa Öztürk, who was detained in Boston, USA, is being closely monitored, and her family is regularly informed,” the statement said. “Every effort is being made to provide the necessary consular services and legal assistance to protect the rights of our citizen.”
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