Key points
- US authorities have revoked the visa of the student
- Ozturk is a Fulbright Scholar and student in Tufts’ doctoral programme
- Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil was also arrested in the US
ISLAMABAD: United States immigration authorities have arrested and revoked the visa of a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University near Boston who had voiced support for Palestinians during Israel’s war in Gaza, according to media reports.
According to Al-Jazeera, her lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai said in a petition filed in Boston federal court that Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, had left her home in Somerville on Tuesday night to meet friends and break her Ramadan fast when she was arrested by Department of Homeland Security agents.
First known arrest
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 under President Donald Trump, media reports suggest.
Her detention also comes amid the Trump administration’s widespread crackdown on pro-Palestinian students and academics, including Palestinian activist and recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, according to Turkish media.
The actions have been condemned as an assault on free speech, though the Trump administration argues that certain protests can undermine US foreign policy.
According to Turkish media, the university president said that the varsity had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event.
Targeting university students
The school said it is assisting Ozturk with legal resources.
“Following university protocol, the Office of University Counsel will assist in connecting the student to external legal resources should the individual request our assistance,” it said.
Ozturk is a Fulbright Scholar and student in Tufts’ doctoral programme for child study and human development, according to media reports, and had previously studied at Columbia University in New York.
She has been in the country on an F-1 visa, which allows students to live in the US while studying, according to the lawsuit.
The op-ed
An op-ed published on The Tufts Daily’s website on March 26, 2024, authored by the detained Turkish student along with Nick Ambeliotis, Fatima Rahman, and Genesis Perez and endorsed by 32 other Tufts School of Engineering and Arts and Sciences Graduate Students, stated: “On March 4, the Tufts Community Union Senate passed 3 out of 4 resolutions demanding that the University acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, apologize for University President Sunil Kumar’s statements, disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.”
It stated: “Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide.”
The article underlined: “This collective student voice is not without precedent. Today, the University may remember with pride its decision in February 1989 to divest from South Africa under apartheid and end its complicity with the then-racist regime.”
