The Trump Administration Retains and Cancels a Turkish Student’s Visa at Tufts

The Trump administration raised worries when it arrested and revoked the visa of a Turkish student at Tufts University.

After expressing solidarity for Palestinians in Israel’s conflict in Gaza, a Turkish doctorate student at Tufts University, in Boston, had her visa withdrawn and her detention by US immigration authorities.

The administration of President Donald Trump has detained or attempted to detain a number of foreign-born students in the US who have taken part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and Rumeysa Ozturk’s supporters claim that her arrest on Tuesday night is the first known immigration arrest of a student in the Boston area involved in such activism.

While some protests are antisemitic and potentially jeopardize US foreign policy, the Trump administration claims that the arrests are an attack on free speech.

She was traveling to meet friends to break her Ramadan fast, according to her attorney, when masked and plainclothes officers arrested the 30-year-old Turkish national in the vicinity of her Somerville, Massachusetts, home, as captured on camera.

In a post on X, US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that investigators found Ozturk had “participated in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that enjoys killing Americans”.

McLaughlin asserted that a visa is a privilege rather than a right. The actions that resulted in Ozturk’s F-1 student visa being revoked, however, were not specifically mentioned by her. Ozturk was a Fulbright Scholar who was enrolled in the Child Study and Human Development doctoral program at Tufts.

She co-authored an opinion post in The Tufts Daily a year ago criticizing the university’s response to student requests to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and divest from Israeli-affiliated corporations, which led to her detention.

Citing similar examples nationwide, Ozturk’s attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, implied that her client’s imprisonment was related to her exercising her right to free expression.

Khanbabai claimed that Ozturk was wrongfully held in a complaint he filed late Tuesday. In Boston, US District Judge Indira Talwani issued an injunction that evening prohibiting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement from removing Ozturk from Massachusetts without providing at least 48 hours’ notice.

According to Khanbabai, Ozturk was moved to Louisiana by Wednesday evening in contravention of the court injunction. She denounced the Department of Homeland Security for “spiriting away Rumeysa in broad daylight” and accused her client of being the target of “baseless” accusations.

The arrest, according to Democratic US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, is “the latest in an alarming pattern to stifle civil liberties.” Protesters in Somerville held posters that said “Resist,” “Defend student voices,” and “Release Rumeysa Ozturk now!” in response to Ozturk’s imprisonment.

Her arrest coincides with the Trump administration’s wider immigration campaign, which has increased arrests and tightened border controls.