A Tufts University international graduate student is in federal custody after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to an email sent Tuesday night from Tufts President Sunil Kumar and shared with GBH News.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and PhD student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, was arrested outside her off-campus apartment. Kumar said the university was told that Ozturk’s visa status has been terminated, “and we seek to confirm whether that information is true.”
“The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident,” Kumar wrote, “and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event.”
The university plans to assist in connecting Ozturk with external legal resources should she need them, according to the email.
“We realize that tonight’s news will be distressing to some members of our community, particularly the members of our international community,” Kumar wrote, issuing a reminder that the university has a protocol to respond to federal government agents making “unannounced visits” on or off campus.
After the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident and graduate student at Columbia, President Donald Trump warned that Khalil’s detainment would be the first “of many to come” as his administration cracks down on campus demonstrations against Israel and the war in Gaza.
Ozturk is a student in Tufts’ doctoral program for child study and human development, and had previously been publicly critical of the university’s approach to pro-Palestinian protests.
In March of last year, Ozturk co-authored an op-ed in the school newspaper The Tufts Daily that called on Kumar to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.
Ozturk had recent been listed on a well-known website that claims to “document individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond.”
GBH News has reached out to ICE regarding Ozturk’s detainment.
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