Latest news with #Rumeysa
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
King or Constitution?
Signage and flowers are placed on a tree next to where ICE agents apprehended Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk on March 27, 2025, in Somerville, Massachusetts. Ozturk was arrested for purported activities related to terrorist organizations amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. (Photo by) Nearly 20 years ago, my wife and I were lucky enough to study abroad in England. We had been awarded graduate scholarships and obtained our student visas from the British government. At the time, there was a heartbreaking genocide happening in Darfur. As concerned students invested in the moral standing of our university, we joined peaceful protests calling on Oxford to divest from companies that profited from the genocide and urged the British Parliament to intervene. I never feared that my exercise of free speech would get me arrested and kicked out of what I took to be the second freest nation on earth, after my own. And I certainly could not have imagined a swarm of British agents abducting me on the street and deporting me without cause. Perhaps in the time of King George III but not the age of constitutions. On Tuesday, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University in Boston, was walking peacefully to the university's Interfaith Center to break her Ramadan fast when six government agents in masks and hoodies surrounded her and took her away screaming in an unmarked SUV. For a day or more, according to Fox News, Rumeysa's family and lawyers had no idea where she was and were unable to contact her. No charges were filed against her. A federal district judge even ordered the government not to move her out of state. But she was moved anyway — to a detention center in Louisiana, awaiting deportation. Rumeysa had a valid student visa, as Fox News also reported. She was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to complete her Ph.D. at Tufts' Department of Child Study and Human Development, where she researches children and media. No charges were filed against her and there was no warrant for her arrest; warrants are issued by judges who require the government to show cause. The best guess for why she has been detained is that her name appeared with several others on an article in the student newspaper last year calling on Tufts University to 'acknowledge the Palestinian genocide' and divest from companies with ties to Israel. The op-ed never mentioned Hamas, which the U.S. government rightly considers a terrorist organization. There is no evidence that she harbored any sympathy for, much less aided and abetted, Hamas or other organizations opposed to the United States. It seems her only 'crime' was to peacefully speak out, as a concerned student, in a manner disfavored by the current administration. Americans may freely disagree about the heartbreaking conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, which has left thousands of innocent Israelis and hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians dead or injured in recent years. For my part, having traveled to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and believing in the state of Israel as a necessary response to the evils of the Holocaust (in which Jewish family members of mine were killed), I take seriously the conclusions of the International Criminal Court and Amnesty International that Israel's war in Gaza is a 'plausible' genocide. But regardless of what we believe about Israel and Palestine, there is one thing on which Americans overwhelmingly agree: our constitutional right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment is sacred and immigrants who lawfully reside among us are not without rights of their own. As you uphold my right to call the war in Gaza genocidal, I defend your right to call Hamas an evil terrorist organization. In fact, I'll join in that because it is also true. Freedom of speech is as American as apple pie. It's what has attracted many of the brightest minds from foreign lands to come here legally as students and help make America the richest, most innovative nation on earth — including Elon Musk. Sadly, Rumeysa is not alone. She is one of hundreds of lawful immigrants so far who have been targeted for deportation by the Trump administration in recent weeks, without any pretense of due process. Their abductions on American streets by unmarked and unidentified 'law enforcement' agents are being funded by our tax dollars to the tune of untold millions. So far we have seen at least seven other students detained for showing sympathy for Palestinians; hundreds of Venezuelan migrants deported to a Salvadoran prison camp against the orders of a federal judge, and extended detentions and physical abuse of lawful migrants at the American border. These and countless other acts represent an unprecedented abuse of federal power against individuals whose lack of citizenship gives them limited legal recourse, in spite of their legal status in this country. Given the choice, I still believe my fellow Americans would choose the Constitution over a man who would be king. It's time we make that choice — not just for Rumeysa but for this country we love.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rubio Says They've Revoked At Least 300 Student Visas Related To Campus Protests
Secretary of State Marco Rubio boasted Thursday that at least 300 student visas have been revoked since President Donald Trump took office and that they're 'looking every day' for more. 'It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,' he said at a press conference in Guyana when asked about the number of visas revoked in relation to student protests. 'We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses,' he said. 'So we'll revoke your visa, and once your visa is revoked, you're in the country illegally and you have to leave.' The Trump administration has targeted students who participated in anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses last year, notably at Columbia University where a campus building was briefly taken over. Columbia last week agreed to implement a number of policy changes, including to its disciplinary, protest and mask rules, after Trump threatened to revoke all of its federal funding if it didn't make major changes to how it handles student protests. Among the latest detentions is a Tufts University graduate student from Turkey, who was seen on Tuesday being detained on the streets of Boston by U.S. immigration officials wearing plain clothes and masks. Rumeysa Ozturk, who was in the U.S. on an F1 visa, had co-authored an op-ed last year that urged Tufts' president to 'acknowledge the Palestinian genocide' and divest from companies with ties to Israel. Her legal team called her detainment by the Department of Human Services unlawful, in a statement Thursday. 'We should all be horrified at the way DHS abducted Rumeysa in broad daylight. No person, regardless of their citizenship status, should be targeted over their views, especially in support of human rights,' said a spokesperson with Khanbabai Immigration Law. 'Rumeysa has not been accused of committing any crime and DHS has not produced any evidence that she was engaged in any unlawful activities. Meanwhile, there is plenty of evidence of U.S. supplied bombs being dropped on Gaza killing over 1,000 people, including over 250 children in the last week. It appears the only thing Rumeysa is being targeted for is her right to free speech.' Rubio stood by Ozturk's visa being revoked when asked about her detention on Thursday. 'If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason why you're coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we're not going to give you a visa. If you lie to us and get a visa and then enter the United States, and with that visa, participate in that sort of activity, we're going to take away your visa,' he said. 'We're looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up and, by the way, we're looking for gang members as well.' University Of Alabama Student Detained By Federal Immigration Agents Tufts University Student Detained By Federal Agents On Way To Break Ramadan Fast Trump Voter Now 'Concerned' For Wife After She Was Detained By ICE Canadian Actor Detained By ICE Speaks Out On 'Inhumane' Conditions
Al Arabiya
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Turkish student held in US abducted by undercover agents: Lawyer
A lawyer representing a Turkish university student detained in the United States and facing deportation said Thursday that his client had been unlawfully abducted. Earlier this week, a video surfaced on social media showing 30-year-old Rumeysa Ozturk being detained by masked, plain-clothed figures near Tufts University in Massachusetts. The video quickly went viral as a symbol driving the fear and anger gripping US campuses as President Donald Trump clamps down on students accused of holding extremist views. Ozturk had penned an op-ed in a student newspaper decrying Israel's actions in Gaza and, although she had a valid student visa, is now being held pending her deportation. Immigration lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai complained that Ozturk had been taken to a detention center in the southern state of Louisiana, despite a court order saying that she remain in Massachusetts. 'Masked DHS agents unlawfully arrested my client,' he said, referring to the Department of Homeland Security and adding that 24 hours after her arrest on Tuesday morning, Ozturk was transferred to Louisiana. 'Throughout that period of time, my client was not charged or given the opportunity to speak with a lawyer,' Khanbabia said. 'I had the opportunity to speak with Rumeysa late Wednesday night and she was grateful to finally get an explanation of what was happening to her.' The disturbing video of PhD student Ozturk's arrest has made her one of the most prominent victims of Trump's immigration crackdown, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio made in clear on Thursday that she is far from alone. Asked about her case and reports that up to 300 students could be facing deportation, Washington's chief diplomat said: 'Maybe more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. 'Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,' he told reporters. 'At some point I hope we run out because we've gotten rid of them.' Rubio said foreign students that 'participate in movements that are vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus' would lose their US visas. But Khanbabai protested, saying: 'Rumeysa has not been accused of committing any crime and DHS has not produced any evidence that she was engaged in any unlawful activities.' 'It appears the only thing Rumeysa is being targeted for is her right to free speech.'
Fox News
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Video shows arrest of Tufts University student for allegedly supporting Hamas
The Tufts University graduate student detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Somerville, Massachusetts, this week is now being held in Louisiana, according to a statement from university President Sunil Kumar. ICE confirmed Rumeysa Ozturk's detention to Fox News on Wednesday. She is originally from Turkey. "We have recently learned and verified that Rumeysa Öztürk, the student who was detained by federal immigration authorities yesterday, is currently being held in Louisiana," Kumar said in a Thursday morning statement. "We recognize how frightening and distressing this situation is for her, her loved ones, and the larger community here at Tufts, especially our international students, staff, and faculty who may be feeling vulnerable or unsettled by these events." He added that the "footage of Rumeysa's arrest" released Wednesday "is disturbing." "We stand with our Muslim students, especially during their observance of Ramadan, as we recognize that Rumeysa was on her way to an Iftar gathering with friends at the Interfaith Center when she was detained," Kumar said. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell also criticized the arrest on Wednesday. "The footage of Rumeysa Ozturk's arrest – a student here legally – is disturbing," Campbell said in a statement. "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. This isn't public safety, it's intimidation that will, and should, be closely scrutinized in court. My office is closely monitoring this matter as it develops." A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News on Wednesday that Ozturk was "granted the privilege to be in this country on a visa." "DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans," the spokesperson said. "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 commonsense security." The legal team representing Ozturk told Fox News she had a valid F-1 visa status prior to her arrest. They also said no charges have been filed against their client and are demanding her release. "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," Khanbabai Immigration Law told Fox News in a statement on Wednesday. "We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her. No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of." On Tuesday night, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani granted a habeas petition from Ozturk's lawyers requesting she not be removed out of the District of Massachusetts. The lawyers say no charges have been filed against her at this time and demand her release. The legal teams say Ozturk has not been disciplined for any involvement in campus protests but would not say if she has participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests. "We hope Rumeysa will be released immediately. Those who wish to support Rumeysa are welcome to attend a rally this evening in Somerville," the Wednesday statement continued. Kumar said Tufts is in communication "with local, state, and federal elected officials and hope that Rumeysa is provided the opportunity to avail herself of her due process rights." "The university is actively working to support the Tufts community as it mobilizes its collective resources and contacts to ensure our students' safety and well-being," the university president said. In March of last year, Ozturk co-authored an op-ed in the Tufts Daily, a student newspaper, taking issue with the university's response to several resolutions passed by the Tufts Community Union Senate on March 4, 2024, "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." Ozturk was a medical graduate student at the Tufts University Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development. President Donald Trump on Jan. 30 signed an executive order to cancel the student visas of Hamas sympathizers on college campuses. Executive Order 13899 aims to combat the "unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses," since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, sparking the beginning of a 15-month war that has left tens of thousands of people dead. "To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," the president said in a Jan. 30 fact sheet on the executive order. "I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before." Hamas is a designated terrorist organization that the Department of National Intelligence describes as "the largest and most capable militant group in the Palestinian territories and one of the territories' two major political parties." The Trump administration has also rescinded federal grants from Columbia University over its alleged failure to address antisemitism on campus. "We realize that tonight's news will be distressing to some members of our community, particularly the members of our international community," Kumar said in his statement. "We will continue to provide information, support, and resources in the days ahead as more details become available to us." The cost of attendance at Tufts, before financial aid, is listed as between $80,000 and $90,000 on the university's website. Tufts is receiving $115.2 million in funds from the National Institutes of Health as of fiscal year 2025, the university's website says, including $88.3 million in direct costs and $26.9 million in facilities and administrative costs.
CBC
27-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Hundreds protest after Turkish student is arrested near Boston by masked immigration agents
U.S. immigration authorities have detained and revoked the visa of a Turkish doctoral student at a Massachusetts university who had voiced support for Palestinians in Israel's war in Gaza, a development the state's attorney general called "alarming." A video of Rumeysa Ozturk's arrest showed masked and plainclothes agents taking the 30-year-old Turkish national into custody near her home in Somerville, Mass., on Tuesday evening. The Tufts University student was heading to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast, according to her lawyer. The arrest in the town just northwest of Boston fuelled a large demonstration of hundreds of protesters in Somerville on Wednesday night. U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X authorities determined Ozturk "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," McLaughlin said. She did not specify what specific activities were engaged in by Ozturk, a Fulbright Scholar and student in Tufts' doctoral program for Child Study and Human Development. Ozturk had been in the country on an F-1 visa to study. Rumeysa 'spirited away' by ICE agents, lawyer says Ozturk co-authored an opinion piece a year ago in the school's student paper, the Tufts Daily, that criticized the school's response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide." "Based on patterns we are seeing across the country, her exercising her free speech rights appears to have played a role in her detention," said Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk's lawyer. Khanbabai called the claims against Ozturk "baseless" and said people should be "horrified at the way DHS spirited away Rumeysa in broad daylight." U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) in President Donald Trump's administration 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, though the Trump administration argues that certain protests are antisemitic and can undermine U.S. foreign policy. "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," Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement. "This isn't public safety, it's intimidation that will, and should, be closely scrutinized in court." Following Ozturk's arrest, Khanbabai filed a lawsuit late on Tuesday arguing she was unlawfully detained, prompting U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that night to order ICE to not move Ozturk out of Massachusetts without at least 48 hours notice. Yet by Wednesday night, ICE's online detainee locator system listed her as being held at an ICE processing centre in Louisiana. Talwani has given the government until Friday to respond to her order to answer why Ozturk was detained. WATCH l Student Ranjani Srinivasan tells CBC why she fled to Canada: Columbia student flees to Canada after being caught in Trump crackdown on international students 8 days ago Duration 3:02 Two weeks ago, Ranjani Srinivasan was an international student from India doing graduate work at New York's Columbia University. She's now in Canada, having fled immigration authorities who came searching for her after her student visa was suddenly revoked. She spoke to David Common in a Canada-exclusive interview. Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio in particular have pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters, accusing them of supporting Hamas militants, posing hurdles for U.S. foreign policy and of being antisemitic. Trump has disparaged some schools as "infested with radicalism." Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the administration wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas. Wave of controversial detentions Tufts President Sunil Kumar said in a statement the school had no advance knowledge of the arrest, which he recognized would be "distressing to some members of our community, particularly the members of our international community." The Turkish embassy in Washington said in a statement it was in touch with the U.S. State Department, ICE and other authorities about Ozturk's detention. WATCH l Mahmoud Khalil fights potential deportation, disputes allegations: Palestinian student activist detained by U.S. immigration agents 14 days ago Duration 1:59 Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student in the country legally, was arrested by U.S. immigration agents and faces possible deportation for his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests. It's one of the first known arrests linked to the Trump administration's threats against student activists. Ozturk 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 was denied re-entry to the U.S. this month 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 militant group but held regard for its slain leader because of her religion. The Trump administration has also targeted students at Cornell University in New York, Georgetown University in Washington and the University of Alabama. Government threatens to pull funding from some schools On March 10, the Department of Education also sent letters to 60 universities and colleges in the U.S. that warned that the administration would not tolerate antisemitic acts and that schools that did risked losing federal government funding. But nearly one-third — 19 in total — had already resolved earlier complaints or had never been subject to such complaints at all, according to 31 colleges' responses to Reuters queries, as well as an analysis of publicly available records maintained by the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights. The seemingly haphazard composition of the list — and the potentially enormous financial implications — raised immediate concerns in the academic community. "I certainly was hearing confusion from campus leaders whose institutions were named," said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the advocacy group American Association of Colleges and Universities. "That's part of the distress that they're experiencing, because they don't even know the nature and extent of the allegations against them." It wasn't clear how the Trump administration would conduct its investigation with current staffing constraints, three former attorneys with the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights told Reuters. Seven of 12 regional offices of the OCR that investigate antisemitism and other discrimination complaints were closed on March 11, as the Trump administration has launched a campaign to slash federal government payrolls that Democrats and unions have characterized as indiscriminate.
