A Turkish student detained by federal agents as she walked along a street in a Boston suburb is the latest supporter of Palestinian causes to be swept up in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants who express political views. Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, a doctoral student at Tufts University, was swiftly moved out of Massachusetts, another case of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sending immigrants to detention centers or deporting them before a federal judge has a chance to halt the actions. Ozturk, who was detained Tuesday after she left home in Somerville, had been moved to an ICE detention center in Louisiana by the time her lawyer went to court and a judge ordered her to be kept in Massachusetts, reports the Associated Press.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said authorities detained Ozturk after an investigation found she had “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” The department did not provide evidence. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration has revoked the visas of at least 300 people, including Ozturk: “We do it every day.” Friends of Ozturk said she was not closely involved in pro-Palestinian protests on campuses last spring. Her only known activism, they said, was co-authoring an op-ed in a student newspaper that called on Tufts University to engage with student demands to cut ties with Israel. Ozturk’s arrest appears to be part of President Trump’s pledge to deport students he said engage in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” a label the administration has applied broadly to those who criticize Israel and protest its military campaign in Gaza. This month, immigration enforcement agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who played a prominent part in protests at Columbia last year. He is facing possible deportation.