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‘ICE kidnapped our neighbor’: Outrage at arrest of Tufts student spreads as lawmakers demand answers
Rumeysa Ozturk's detention sparked continued protests, allegations that federal officials broke the law, and more.
Three days after masked agents detained Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk on a Somerville sidewalk and transported her to a detention center in Louisiana, the fallout continued to be felt around Massachusetts and beyond.
Police blocked hundreds of protesters from entering Somerville City Hall, thousands associated with Tufts University signed a petition urging more action from the school, members of Congress sent a letter to federal officials demanding answers, and lawyers for Ozturk filed new documents alleging the government violated her constitutional rights.
“Rumeysa Ozturk’s experience is shocking, cruel, and unconstitutional. For nearly 24 hours, we could not locate her, and despite a court order to prevent the government from taking her out of Massachusetts, we finally learned the Trump administration had shipped her to Louisiana. Criticizing U.S. foreign policy and human rights violations is neither illegal nor grounds for detention. The government must immediately release Rumeysa to continue her studies and rejoin her community,” Mahsa Khanbabai, a lawyer for Ozturk, said in a statement.
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Ozturk, a Turkish national who was pursuing her PhD in the Child Study and Human Development department at Tufts, was arrested Tuesday evening as she went to break her Ramadan fast with friends. Video of masked, plainclothes agents slowly swarming her and taking her into a vehicle with tinted windows circulated widely online.
Allegations
When asked about the incident Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Ozturk’s visa had been terminated. He asserted that the federal government has a responsibility to deport any international students in the US who participated in disruptive protest behavior on campus.
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The Trump administration has revoked more than 300 visas so far, Rubio said, and he promised to target more “lunatics” like Ozturk.
A State Department spokesperson said that investigators “found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.”
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Neither Rubio nor the spokesperson produced evidence that showed Ozturk participated in the vandalism, harassment, or other disruptive behaviors described. Tufts saw major demonstrations last year, as students demanded administrators acknowledge the Israeli government’s “genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza. But Ozturk is not known as an outspoken protest leader.
Ozturk co-authored an op-ed that appeared in The Tufts Daily last year. In it, she identified as a “graduate student for Palestine” and advocated for the university to divest from Israeli companies and take a stronger stance against the war in Gaza.
No criminal charges have been filed against Ozturk, according to her lawyers.
Ozturk’s detention follows a pattern affecting international students across the country who were found to be linked in some way to pro-Palestine protest activity. The Trump administration argues that these actions are legal because the Secretary of State can order the removal of anyone who would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Many legal experts are skeptical.
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Ozturk is still being held in Louisiana, as her lawyers seek to have her returned to Massachusetts. Her legal team, which now includes lawyers from the ACLU, filed an amended habeas petition and complaint early Friday morning. In court documents, they describe how Ozturk’s friends and family did not know her location for almost a full day after her arrest. Her lawyers say that Ozturk was detained before she had received any notice of the revocation of her student visa. They allege Ozturk’s arrest and detention violates the First and Fifth amendments.
“Rumeysa’s arrest and detention are not a necessary or usual consequence of the revocation of a visa. But like the revocation of her visa, her arrest and detention are designed to silence her, punish her for her speech, and ensure that other students will be chilled from expressing pro-Palestinian viewpoints. Her continued detention is therefore unlawful,” Ozturk’s lawyers wrote.
When Ozturk was arrested a judge ordered her not to be removed from Massachusetts without 48 hours notice. Federal prosecutors say that she was already out of state at the time that the judge issued her order. Khanbabai accused the government of explicitly ignoring this court order.
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“The federal government’s blatant disregard for the court decision sets a dangerous precedent for us as a country and worldwide,” Khanbabai said in a statement.
Lawmakers demand Ozturk’s release
Thirty-four lawmakers, including almost the entirety of the Congressional Delegation from Massachusetts, sent a letter to Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons Thursday. They said that Ozturk’s arrest was a “disturbing” incident and that the entire situation is “deeply troubling.”
The lawmakers also brought into question whether Ozturk’s relocation to Louisiana violated the court order. They listed a series of questions for administration officials to answer about the specifics of Ozturk’s arrest and why she was moved to Louisiana. The authors cited reports about health-related complaints at the ICE detention center in Louisiana and voiced concerns about Ozturk given that she is fasting for Ramadan and has asthma.
“The Administration should not summarily detain and deport legal residents of this country merely for expressing their political views. Absent compelling evidence justifying her detention and the revocation of her status, we call for Ozturk’s release and the restoration of her visa,” the members of Congress wrote.
Local response
News of Ozturk’s arrest quickly spread throughout Greater Boston on Tuesday night. By Wednesday evening, thousands gathered in Powder House Park in Somerville to show their support. At that event, activists publicized a grassroots hotline for reporting ICE activity and said that it played a crucial role in alerting the community to what had happened to Ozturk.
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The protest activity continued Thursday night, when hundreds of people gathered outside Somerville City Hall. The demonstration was planned to coincide with a City Council meeting where officials were set to weigh in on a ballot initiative requesting the city divest from companies in business with Israel.
The council voted 9-2 to file the ballot initiative. Now, activists must collect 5,500 signatures in order to place the question on the city’s ballot in November, the Daily reported.
As the meeting started, councilors held a moment of silence and spoke about Ozturk. Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen expressed his anger at the “gestapo thugs” that “snatched” Ozturk off the street.
“It is extremely hard to find the words to describe how furious, how just full of rage I am, I think that everyone in this community is” he said. “I cannot imagine what Rumeysa and her family and her friends must be going through.”
As they spoke, loud chanting could be heard through the building’s walls from the protesters outside. The demonstrators made clear that they were not just protesting Ozturk’s detention, but the wider plight of the Palestinians and any ties that Somerville has to the Israeli government.
“The people united will never be defeated,” they chanted as they sought to gain entry to City Hall as the City Council meeting got underway. Police prevented them from entering.
There is widespread anger within the Tufts community. A petition began circulating Thursday calling on the Tufts administration to “commit to defending our community against continued targeted attacks.”
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Tufts President Sunil Kumar said shortly after Ozturk’s arrest that the school “had no pre-knowledge” of the incident and did not share any information with federal authorities beforehand about Ozturk. The arrest took place outside of campus.
Those who wrote the petition said that they are “aghast” at Kumar’s response and claim that administrators should have expected something like this to happen. They reference the fact that the Department of Education sent letters to 60 universities, including Tufts, earlier this month. Federal officials warned administrators of “potential enforcement actions” if they do not adequately protect Jewish students in the wake of “the relentless antisemitic eruptions” seen on college campuses around the country.
“At a time when university-affiliated individuals with vulnerable immigration statuses are being stripped of their rights without due process, frequently because of their solidarity with Palestine amidst the ongoing genocide, all universities should be on notice of an imminent abduction of their international students, scholars, and staff. It is not enough to disclaim pre-knowledge; only proactive measures will suffice,” the authors of the petition wrote.
As of Friday morning, it had been signed by 2,681 current and former members of the Tufts community.
Student journalists at the Daily published an op-ed Friday responding to the insinuations that ICE agents targeted Ozturk because of her involvement in last year’s op-ed. The paper’s Managing Board affirmed their support for Ozturk’s ability to exercise her free speech rights. The paper is committed to the continued publication of op-eds that share diverse perspectives, they said,
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“The safety of our community remains of utmost importance to us, and we consider the well-being of our writers and sources at every step of the editorial process. That said, the withholding of ideas and abstinence from debate will only contribute to the erosion of free expression,” the op-ed reads.
At the location of Ozturk’s arrest, flowers and ribbons left by residents adorned a tree. A sign posted to it stated simply: “ICE kidnapped our neighbor.”
The most recent complaint filed by Ozturk’s lawyers can be read below:
Ozturk Amended Petition 3/28/25 by Ross Cristantiello on Scribd
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