Tufts Student Rumeysa Ozturk Detained Amid Crackdown on Palestinian Supporters

Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, was arrested by federal authorities in Massachusetts and moved to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana, drawing widespread condemnation from immigration advocates. U.S. officials claim her visa was revoked due to alleged support for Hamas, although no concrete evidence has been provided to substantiate this claim. Friends and colleagues have stated that Ozturk was not heavily involved in pro-Palestinian protests, with her activism primarily limited to co-authoring an op-ed that called for Tufts to cut ties with Israel. The incident highlights the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants expressing political views, raising concerns about authoritarian tactics in immigration enforcement. Critics, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have decried the arrest as an alarming act of repression. Ozturk's situation reflects ongoing tensions regarding U.S. immigration policies and political dissent among international students.