U.S. immigration authorities have detained Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, revoking her visa due to alleged support for Hamas. Rumeysa Ozturk was apprehended by Department of Homeland Security agents in Somerville, Massachusetts, while en route to break her Ramadan fast with friends.

NEW: I’ve obtained new footage of the abduction of Tufts student Runeysa Ozturk which includes audio of her kidnappers. pic.twitter.com/gucwFxdnOi

— Daniel Boguslaw (@DRBoguslaw) March 26, 2025

This is the first known immigration arrest of a student in the Boston area who was speaking out for Palestinians while Trump was president. This is because the government is now looking more closely at foreign students who participate in these protests. Many people say these actions hurt their freedom of speech, but the government says some protests are anti-Semitic and bad for U.S. foreign policy. ​

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Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stated that authorities determined Rumeysa Ozturk had engaged in activities supporting Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Specific information on these events was not shared, though. Following her co-authorship of an editorial post in the Tufts Daily, condemning the university’s reaction to demands for divestment from firms connected to Israel and pushing recognition of the Palestinian genocide, Ozturk’s arrest follows Mahsa Khanbabai, an attorney, sued to challenge Ozturk’s arrest.

Rumesya Ozturk is a Turkish national & Tufts University graduate student, granted the privilege to be in this country on a visa.

DHS + ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of… pic.twitter.com/3sBE6yO8db

— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) March 26, 2025

This caused U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani to tell Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) not to move Rumeysa Ozturk out of Massachusetts without giving them a 48-hour warning. Reports say that Rumeysa ozturk was sent to Louisiana despite this order, which makes me wonder if the court’s order was followed. Democrats in Congress, like Senator Elizabeth Warren, have spoken out against the arrest, calling it part of a troubling trend of actions meant to limit civil freedoms. People in the Somerville community and campaigners have held protests to call for Ozturk’s release and criticize the way the government handles immigration enforcement.

Sunil Kumar, President of Tufts University, claimed the institution was unaware of the pre-announced arrest. He also mentioned that he realized how disruptive it may be for any university student, including international ones. The Trump government’s detention of Rumeysa Ozturk follows a more general pattern of targeting international students who back the Palestinian cause.

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People like Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate of Columbia University and legal permanent resident, were arrested and deported, and a Lebanese doctor and assistant professor at Brown University was sent back to Lebanon because of material on her phone that was thought to support Hezbollah. Since Rumeysa Ozturk was arrested, there has been a lot of talk in the U.S. about how to balance national security measures with protecting free speech and academic freedom, especially for foreign students.