Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and PhD student at Tufts University, was detained by masked ICE agents on Tuesday evening while on her way to meet friends for an iftar dinner in Somerville, Massachusetts.
The student, who holds a valid F-1 visa, was accosted by immigration officials near campus, physically detained, and arrested.
According to Ozturk's LinkedIn, she is enrolled in Tufts's Child Study and Human Development program and has a master's degree from Columbia University's Teachers College.
Ozturk's sudden and dramatic arrest, which occurred just before her dinner plans, is part of a larger crackdown by federal authorities targeting international students with ties to pro-Palestinian movements.
As of Thursday, federal authorities have defied a federal judge's order in Massachusetts by transferring the student to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center.
On Tuesday, Ozturk was granted a court order preventing her from being transferred outside the state without two days' notice. Prosecutors revealed Thursday that the transfer had already occurred before the judge's directive could be enforced.
Neighborhood surveillance footage shows six plainclothes officers surrounding Ozturk as she walked alone. One officer in a hat and hoodie seizes her arms, making Ozturk scream in fear, while another pulls out a concealed badge on a lanyard and confiscates her cell phone.
Officers donned masks and sunglasses, with one securing Ozturk's hands behind her back, as they declared their presence. They were met with skepticism from an unseen voice, questioning, "Yeah, you don't look like it. Why are you hiding your faces?" The student was then escorted to a waiting SUV and whisked away.
Ozturk finds herself among the foreign nationals linked to various American universities who have been detained for alleged ties to "terrorist organizations" amid the Trump administration's stringent immigration policies.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security claimed on Wednesday that Ozturk "engaged in activities in support of Hamas" without detailing these accusations. Her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai, is said to have lodged a habeas petition in a Massachusetts federal court to release the student from custody.
Tufts University's President Sunil Kumar reached out to the university community via email on Tuesday evening, acknowledging the arrest of a student near an off-campus residence in Somerville, without mentioning Ozturk by name.
Kumar's message to students and staff revealed that Ozturk had been on " a visa status," which, according to the information provided to the university, had been "terminated."
A deep dive by the Globe has revealed that Ozturk's personal details, including a photograph and other sensitive data, were published on Canary Mission, a website known for documenting individuals and groups it deems antisemitic. Supporters of the Palestinian cause claim they have been doxxed and targeted by the site.
In March 2024, Ozturk co-penned an opinion piece in the Tufts Daily, the university's student newspaper. The piece criticized the university's handling of the pro-Palestinian movement and the students' attempts to cut the school's ties with Israel.
Her lawyer informed CNN that no charges have been brought against Ozturk. The Department of Homeland Security states she is currently detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana.
On Wednesday night, hundreds gathered to protest Ozturk's detention at a park bordering the Tufts campus. She is now the third known student to be moved to a Louisiana detention center after being apprehended by federal officers as part of the Trump administration's efforts to detain pro-Palestinian student activists.
The administration issued warnings to several schools, including Tufts, about potential consequences for failing to address antisemitism and the pro-Palestinian movement.
The Turkish government is reportedly keeping a close eye on the case and is believed to be in touch with Ozturk's family.
