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What we know about the Tufts University PhD student detained by federal agents

CNN — As the sun began to set Tuesday over Somerville, Massachusetts, Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk was on her way to meet friends at an Iftar dinner where they would break their Ramadan fast.

But she would never make it to the gathering, according to her attorney. Instead, the 30-year-old was arrested and physically restrained by immigration officers near her apartment, close to Tufts University’s Somerville campus where she was a PhD student, lawyer Masha Khanbabai told CNN.

Six plainclothes officers surrounded Ozturk as she walked alone, neighborhood surveillance video appears to show. The officers did not show their badges until she was restrained, the video shows.

 
 

Ozturk is one of several foreign nationals affiliated with prestigious American universities to be arrested for purported activities related to terrorist organizations amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. They include Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent Palestinian activist taken into custody this month outside his Columbia University apartment.

Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Wednesday in a statement without specifying what those alleged activities were.

No charges have been filed against Ozturk, her attorney told CNN. She is being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Here’s what we know about her arrest:

 

Who is Rumeysa Ozturk?

Ozturk was enrolled in a PhD program at Tufts University on a valid F-1 visa, which allows international students to pursue full-time academic studies, Khanbabai said.

In March 2024, Ozturk cowrote an op-ed in the school’s newspaper in which she criticized Tufts’ response to a student government group’s call for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel because of the conflict in Gaza, among other demands.

“Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide,” the op-ed says.

Tufts University officials said the school had no prior knowledge of her arrest.

The university “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,” Tufts President Sunil Kumar said in a written statement. “From what we have been told subsequently, the student’s visa status has been terminated, and we seek to confirm whether that information is true.”

Kumar shared the concerns of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in calling the video of Ozturk’s arrest “disturbing,” he said in an updated statement late Wednesday that included additional guidance and resources for international students.

“We recognize how frightening and distressing this situation is for (Ozturk), 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,” Kumar added.

Hundreds protested Ozturk’s detention Wednesday night at a park on the edge of the Tufts’ campus, CNN affiliate WBZ reported.

“The fact that someone can just be disappeared into the abyss for voicing an idea is absolutely horrifying,” said rally attendee Sam Wachman told WBZ.

The university is in touch with local, state and federal elected officials and “hope that Rumeysa is provided the opportunity to avail herself of her due process rights,” he said.

The Turkish government is monitoring the case and staying in touch with Ozturk’s family, it said.

“Initiatives have been made with the US Department of State, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Unit and other authorized units,” the Turkish embassy said on X, on Wednesday. “Every effort is being made to provide the necessary consular services and legal support to protect the rights of our citizens.”

A US State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of the case.

“Due to privacy and other considerations, and visa confidentiality, we generally will not comment on Department actions with respect to specific cases,” a State Department spokesperson told CNN.

 

Sudden arrest caught on camera

Surveillance video released Wednesday and obtained from a neighbor by the advocacy group Muslim Justice League appears to show six plainclothes officers casually approaching Ozturk as she walks alone on a sidewalk.

One officer wearing a hat and hoodie grabs her arms, causing Ozturk to shriek in fear as another pulls out a concealed badge on a lanyard and confiscates her cell phone.

Shortly afterward, the officers all pull cloth coverings over their mouths and noses, some of them wearing sunglasses, as one of them restrains Ozturk’s hands behind her back.

As the officers say, “We’re the police,” a person not seen in the video can be heard responding, “Yeah, you don’t look like it. Why are you hiding your faces?”

One minute after the encounter began, Ozturk is walked into a waiting SUV and driven away.

ICE has not responded to CNN’s request for comment on Ozturk’s case.

The use of facial coverings is similar to an account of the arrest of Georgetown University fellow Bada Khan Suri, whose attorney Nermeen Arastu told CNN the officers who detained Khan Suri were “brandishing weapons.”

“ICE agents came in the night, took him captive, taking him from his wife and children, and hauled him away to an unknown location before transferring him to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana, far from his family and attorneys,” Arastu added on Suri.

 

Detained in Louisiana

After she was detained on Tuesday, Ozturk’s attorney filed a petition in federal district court in Boston challenging the legality of her detention and asking she not be moved out of Massachusetts.

“(Ozturk) shall not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without first providing advance notice of the intended move,” District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, wrote Tuesday in an order. Talwani ordered the government to respond to Ozturk’s petition by Friday.

But she already had been transferred to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Wednesday.

It is not clear whether Ozturk had already been transferred out of Boston to Louisiana by the time judge Talwani issued her order.

Ozturk is now the third international student known to be transferred to Louisiana after being detained by federal officers. Khalil and Georgetown fellow Badar Khan Suri were both transferred to an ICE detention facility in Jena.

“Like all the other immigration cases related to international students and activists who have spoken up about the atrocities in Palestine, the government throws around wild accusations but provides no evidence,” Khanbabai said. “We hope Rumeysa will be released immediately.”

CNN’s Amanda Musa, Braden Walker, Caroll Alvarado, Zenebou Sylla, Gul Tuysuz and Sana Noor Haq contributed to this report.

Author: Gloria Pazmino and Andy Rose, CNN

Source: CNN:::

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