By Lucia Grand & Edoardo Turco
Rümeysa Öztürk, a 30-year-old Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, was abruptly detained on March 25, 2025, by plainclothes officers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) while walking to join friends for a Ramadan iftar dinner in Somerville, Massachusetts. The unsettling incident was captured on video and rapidly spread through mainstream media, sparking significant public concern. The footage revealed masked agents intercepting Öztürk, handcuffing her, and escorting her into an unmarked vehicle.
Öztürk had moved to the United States under an F-1 student visa, after previously earning a master’s degree from Columbia University and serving as a research assistant at Boston University. The day before her arrest, without any prior notification, DHS had revoked her visa based on allegations of her supporting Hamas, a political and militant organization in Gaza designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist group. Despite these serious allegations, no tangible evidence has been provided to substantiate claims of Öztürk’s involvement in criminal activities or direct support of Hamas. Consequently, she has not been formally charged with any crime.
The allegations seem to stem primarily from an opinion piece co-authored by Öztürk and 32 other Tufts students, published in The Tufts Daily. In this article, the authors criticized Israel’s human-rights abuses in Gaza following the Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2024, and urged the university to divest from companies linked to these practices. Although the piece did not contain explicit support for Hamas, Öztürk’s personal details were subsequently posted on “Canary Mission,” a controversial pro-Israel website that publicizes personal information about pro-Palestinian advocates, labeling them as antisemitic.
Immediately following her detention, Öztürk was moved from Massachusetts to an immigration detention facility in Louisiana, approximately 2,400 kilometers away from her residence. This relocation directly violated a judicial order requiring a 48-hour notice before moving detainees out of state, hindering her constitutional right to access legal counsel. Her lawyers and civil rights advocates have condemned the transfer, emphasizing that it obstructed her basic rights and due process protections. In response, U.S. government officials under the second Trump administration cited the Immigration and Nationality Act, stating it provides the State Department broad authority to deport non-citizens deemed adversarial to the nation’s foreign policy and national security interests. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly supported this interpretation, stating explicitly that visa and green-card holders could be deported for “virtually any reason.”
Öztürk’s detention reflects broader shifts in immigration enforcement under President Trump’s second term, which have seen intensified scrutiny of international students and residents expressing pro-Palestinian sentiments. Administration officials use extensive social media surveillance to flag individuals perceived as security risks, conflating nonviolent activism and political criticism of Israel with support for terrorism. Critics argue this practice dangerously blurs the distinction between legitimate free speech and violent extremism. Moreover, universities might lose government approval to enroll international students if they are perceived as lenient towards what authorities label extremist views, generating a climate of fear and self-censorship among scholars and administrators.
Furthermore, Trump’s January 2025 executive order pledging to combat antisemitism on campuses has heightened fears that any pro-Palestinian advocacy could provoke visa revocations and deportations. Multiple international students from prestigious universities, including Ivy League institutions, have similarly faced sudden visa cancellations after voicing support for Palestinian rights. Civil rights groups have widely criticized these measures as politically motivated and repressive, undermining democratic values of free speech and debate, and fueling a politics of fear intended to intimidate potential critics.
Currently, Öztürk remains detained in Louisiana, with her legal proceedings transferred from Massachusetts to Vermont. A federal judge in Vermont has temporarily halted her deportation, though her ultimate legal fate remains uncertain. The Turkish government is actively engaging in diplomatic efforts to secure her release and provide consular assistance.
The case of Rümeysa Öztürk raises profound concerns over freedom of expression, immigrant rights, and the increasingly politicized application of immigration laws. Amid deepening diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Israel under the Trump administration, her situation underscores a disturbing trend: human rights and personal freedoms risk becoming secondary to geopolitical alliances and political rhetoric, jeopardizing the fundamental principles of democracy and academic freedom.
Featured Photo by niu niu on Unsplash