Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk detained by ICE as Trump continues crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen studying at Tufts University, was taken into federal custody this week, the university said, in the latest apparent example of the Trump administration targeting students with pro-Palestinian views.

Ozturk is the holder of a valid student visa, Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk’s lawyer, said in a statement, and was detained Tuesday by agents with the Department of Homeland Security.

"Rumeysa Ozturk is a Turkish national who was maintaining valid F-1 status as a PhD student at Tufts University," Khanbabai said in the statement. "Rumeysa was heading to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast on the evening of March 25th when she was detained near her home in Somerville, MA by DHS agents."

As of Tuesday evening, Ozturk was listed on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website as being held at the South Louisiana Processing Center in Basile.

In a follow-up statement, Khanbabai suggested that federal officers are intentionally targeting Muslim students during the holy month of Ramadan.

"This appears to be a pattern — ICE stalking Muslim students as they are heading to or from iftar to break their fast," Khanbabai said.

A video obtained by multiple news outlets appears to show Ozturk walking down the street when a group approaches her, including several people with their faces covered. She is handcuffed and taken to a nearby vehicle as someone is heard asking, "Why are you hiding your faces?"

Last year, Ozturk co-authored an op-ed in the Tufts Daily, the university’s newspaper, criticizing Tufts for its failure to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.”

Canary Mission, a group that monitors people it says promote antisemitism on college campuses, posted a picture of Ozturk on its website, saying she "engaged in anti-Israel activism in March 2024."

In January, President Trump signed an executive order to “combat anti-Semitism.” Since then the administration has targeted several students for deportation.

In an email to students on Tuesday, Tufts said that administrators were told that Ozturk’s visa had been terminated and were trying “to confirm whether that information is true.”

"The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event, and the location where this took place is not affiliated with Tufts University," the school wrote.

On Thursday, a group of 28 Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, sent a joint letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons calling for Ozturk's release.

"We are calling for full due process in this case and seeking answers about this case and about ICE’s policy that has led to the identification and arrest of university students with valid legal status," the letter said.

Other students targeted

On March 8, federal agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, an Algerian citizen, U.S. green card holder and recent graduate of Columbia University who helped lead pro-Palestinian protests at the Ivy League university. Khalil is being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in central Louisiana as a legal battle over his deportation proceedings plays out in federal court.

An arrest warrant for Columbia student Yunseo Chung, a green card holder from South Korea, was issued on March 9 following her participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Chung, who has lived in the U.S. since she was 7, has sued the Trump administration and a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking her detainment and deportation.

On March 14, DHS agents arrested Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian student attending Columbia University who also participated in demonstrations. Kordia was detained by DHS agents at her home in Newark, the agency said on its website. “It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country,” DHS Secretary Noem said in a statement.

DHS also said that a third Columbia University student, Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national, had chosen to “self-deport” in early March after being targeted by the administration for her participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the university.

On March 17, ICE agents arrested Indian national Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, at his home in Arlington, Va., over what the university said was his participation in protests over the war in the Middle East. “During his time on campus, I am not aware that Dr. Suri has engaged in any illegal activity, nor has he posed a threat to the security of our campus,” Joel Hellman, dean at Georgetown, wrote in a statement.

Cornell University graduate student Momodou Taal filed his own lawsuit against the Trump administration last week. A dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the Gambia, Taal, who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, faces the prospect of being deported.

Academic groups file lawsuits to block deportations

On Tuesday, multiple academic groups, including the American Association of University Professors, the Middle East Studies Association and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, filed suit against the Trump administration to challenge the effort to deport students and faculty members who participate in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

“The First Amendment means the government can’t arrest, detain, or deport people for lawful political expression — it’s as simple as that. This practice is one we’d ordinarily associate with the most repressive political regimes, and it should have no place in our democracy,” Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, told The Hill.

Following the arrest of Khalil, Secretary of State Rubio offered a different assessment.

“This is not about free speech,” he told reporters. “This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with.”

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