SOMERVILLE, Mass. (AP) — A Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University has been detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents without explanation, her lawyer said Wednesday.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, had just left her home in Somerville on Tuesday night when she was stopped, lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai said in a petition filed in Boston federal court.
Video obtained by The Associated Press appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking away Ozturk’s phone as she yells and is handcuffed.
“We’re the police,” members of the group are heard saying in the video.
A man is heard asking, “Why are you hiding your faces?”
In this image taken from security camera video, Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, is detained by Department of Homeland Security agents on a street in Sommerville, Mass., Tuesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo)
In this image taken from security camera video, Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, is detained by Department of Homeland Security agents on a street in Sommerville, Mass., Tuesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo)
Khanbabai said Ozturk, who is Muslim, was meeting friends for iftar, a meal that breaks a fast at sunset during Ramadan.
“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,” Khanbabai said in a statement. Ozturk has a visa allowing her to study in the United States, Khanbabai said.
‘This isn’t public safety, it’s intimidation’
Neighbors said they were rattled by the arrest, which happened at 5:30 p.m. on a residential block.
“It looked like a kidnapping,” said Michael Mathis, a 32-year-old software engineer whose surveillance camera captured the arrest. “They approach her and start grabbing her with their faces covered. They’re covering their faces. They’re in unmarked vehicles.”
Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said in a statement that the school learned that authorities detained an international graduate student and the student’s visa had been terminated.
“The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event,” Kumar said.
Hundreds of people gather in Somerville, Mass., on March 26, 2025, to demand the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, who was arrested by federal agents Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
Hundreds of people gather in Somerville, Mass., on March 26, 2025, to demand the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, who was arrested by federal agents Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
Kumar did not name the student, but university spokesperson Patrick Collins confirmed that Ozturk is a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley called the arrest “a horrifying violation of Rumeysa’s constitutional rights to due process and free speech.”
“She must be immediately released,” Pressley said in a statement. “We won’t stand by while the Trump Administration continues to abduct students with legal status and attack our fundamental freedoms.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell called the video “disturbing.”
“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,” she said. “This isn’t public safety, it’s intimidation that will, and should, be closely scrutinized in court.”
Court says not to remove Ozturk from the state, but she is listed as being held in Louisiana
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued an order giving the government until Friday to answer why Ozturk was being detained. Talwani also ordered that Ozturk not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours advance notice.
But as of Wednesday evening, the U.S. Immigra
6 Comments
gnabgib
Discussion (55 points, 2 hours ago, 19 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43485577
piva00
[flagged]
jauntywundrkind
Likely targeted & her visa cancelled because she wrote this, https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024/03/4ftk27sm6jkj
engels_gibs
She was detained for writing a pro-palestinean op-ed and being considered "anti-Israel". Why is that information not mentioned in the headline?
mindslight
[flagged]
garyfirestorm
If what they claim to do is legal and constitutional then why the masks and plain clothes?