Ice agents detain Tufts graduate student over pro-Palestinian activism

Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student in Boston detained on Tuesday by federal immigration agents in response to her pro-Palestinian activism, was on Wednesday evening being detained at the South Louisiana Ice processing center, according to the government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detainee locator page.

The transfer of Ozturk, a PhD student at Tufts University, appeared to violate a federal court order from Tuesday, which directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Ice to give the court 48 hours’ notice before attempting to take her out of Massachusetts.

After Ozturk’s transfer to Louisiana emerged from the online locator, the federal judge ordered DHS and Ice to respond to an emergency request in court on Wednesday to produce Ozturk by 9am ET on Thursday.

Videos released online purportedly showed plainclothes DHS officials wearing masks that partially covered their faces while detaining Ozturk in the street and taking her to one of several unmarked cars, while an unseen onlooker can be heard calling out challenges and framing the apprehension as like a kidnapping.

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