US officials detain Turkish students at Tufts and withdraw visas.

BOSTON (Reuters) – According to her counsel and the institution, US immigration authorities arrested and canceled the visa of a Turkish doctorate student at Tufts institution near Boston who expressed sympathy for Palestinians during Israel’s Gaza conflict.

Rumeysa Ozturk’s supporters claim that her detention is the first known immigration arrest of a Boston-area student involved in such activism by President Donald Trump’s administration, which has detained or attempted to detain several foreign-born students who are legally in the United States and have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

The activities have been decried as a violation of free expression, while the Trump administration claims that some demonstrations might jeopardize foreign policy.

According to her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai, the 30-year-old Turkish national was arrested near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Tuesday evening while on her way to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast.

Khanbabai promptly launched a complaint, alleging that Ozturk had been wrongfully held. US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston ordered US Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to remove Ozturk from Massachusetts without first providing advance notice, and to keep her in the state for at least 48 hours afterward.

Ozturk is still in ICE detention, according to the agency’s website. Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Trump administration has targeted overseas students as part of its immigration crackdown, which includes increasing immigration arrests and dramatically curtailing border crossings.

Trump and his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio in particular, have threatened to deport international pro-Palestinian demonstrators, accusing them of aiding Hamas, impeding US foreign policy, and being antisemitic.
According to her LinkedIn page, Ozturk is a Fulbright Scholar and doctorate student in Tufts’ Child Study and Human Development department. She previously attended Columbia University in New York.

Last year, Ozturk co-authored an editorial piece in the Tufts Daily, the university’s student newspaper, criticizing the school’s reaction to student requests to divest from Israel-related corporations and “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.”

According to the complaint Khanbabai filed on her behalf, she was in the nation on an F-1 visa, which permits her to live and study in the United States.

“Based on patterns we are seeing across the country, her exercising her free speech rights appear to have played a role in her detention,” according to Khanbabai.
Advocates were planned a demonstration in Somerville later Wednesday to support Khanbabai, who they claimed had been “abducted” by the Trump administration, according to an online poster circulated by supporters.

Tufts President Sunil Kumar stated in a statement that the institution had no prior knowledge of the arrest, which he acknowledged would be “distressing to some members of our community, particularly members of our international community.”

Ozturk was apprehended less than three weeks after Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and lawful permanent resident, was also detained. He is appealing his imprisonment after Trump accused him of aiding Hamas without providing proof, which Khalil disputes.

Federal immigration officials are also attempting to arrest a Columbia University student born in South Korea who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States and has engaged in pro-Palestinian marches, but the court has temporarily stopped the action.

This month, a Lebanese doctor and assistant professor at Brown University in Rhode Island was denied re-entry into the United States and deported to Lebanon after the Trump administration claimed that her phone included “sympathetic” images of Hezbollah.

Dr Rasha Alawieh stated that she does not support the violent organization but has respect for its murdered leader due to her faith.

The Trump administration has also targeted students from Cornell University in New York and Georgetown University in Washington.