On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the revocation of a Tufts University doctoral student’s visa prior to her arrest and subsequent detention in Louisiana. This incident is part of a broader crackdown, with Rubio stating he has canceled at least 300 visas in similar circumstances. While addressing reporters in Guyana, Rubio defended the detention of university students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, asserting that federal authorities routinely take such actions. “Every time I find one of these lunatics I take away their visa,” he declared.
The student in question, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national studying at Tufts on an F-1 visa, was apprehended by what appeared to be six masked immigration enforcement agents. Surveillance footage captured by a neighbor’s security camera on Tuesday shows Ozturk being handcuffed and placed into an unmarked SUV. Currently, Ozturk is being held at the South Louisiana Processing Center, as confirmed by an online ICE detainee locator.
Rubio made sweeping statements about university students vandalizing property and harassing others, yet he did not provide specific examples or details regarding Ozturk’s case. He emphasized, “If you come into the United States as a visitor and create a ruckus for us, we don't want it. Go back and do it in your country, but you're not gonna do it in our country.”
A senior spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicated that investigations conducted by DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) found that Ozturk was involved in activities supporting Hamas, although no evidence was presented to support this assertion. On Wednesday, Federal Judge Denise Casper ordered that Ozturk remain in Massachusetts, but prosecutors revealed she had already been transferred to Louisiana by the time the ruling was issued. The judge also mandated that the government ensure Ozturk could access her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai.
Khanbabai expressed concern about Ozturk's whereabouts, noting that she had been detained without access to her asthma medication. However, the government later reported that Ozturk managed to speak with her attorney on Wednesday evening.
The Tufts Graduate Student Union, of which Ozturk is a member, condemned her detention, suggesting it reflects an effort by the DHS to stifle the voices of immigrants expressing dissenting opinions that the Trump administration finds unfavorable. “This attack puts us further down a path where anyone could be prevented from speaking if the Trump administration strips them of their right to stay in this country,” the group stated in a release.
Ozturk co-authored a 2024 opinion piece in the Tufts student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to calls for transparency regarding its connections to companies with ties to Israel. Earlier this year, she was listed on the Canary Mission, an anonymously operated website that compiles personal information of individuals in the U.S. deemed to be anti-Israel or antisemitic. Other students targeted by the DHS have similarly appeared on this list.
Jennifer Ruth Hoyden, a doctoral student from New York and a friend of Ozturk since 2019, described her as a compassionate and gentle individual dedicated to working with children. “She’s never uttered an expletive. She is a devoted and peaceful Muslim. She’s super kind,” Hoyden stated. Upon learning of Ozturk's detention after a friend shared the video, she instantly recognized her friend in the footage.
“It’s one thing to read about it and be upset or discouraged or alarmed when you read the news and it’s someone you don’t know,” Hoyden reflected. “But when it happens to someone who you do know and who you care very much about and who you know in every fiber of your being is a wonderful person, that, rightly or wrongly, is very different.”
