Dozens of US lawmakers condemn 'disturbing' arrest of Tufts student with pro-Palestine views
More than 30 US Democratic lawmakers have slammed the Trump administration’s “disturbing” arrest of Tufts University student and Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk for her “pro-Palestine” views.
“The rationale for this arrest appears to be this student’s expression of her political views. We are calling for full due process in this case and are seeking answers about this case and about ICE’s policy that has led to the identification and arrest of university students with valid legal status,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter sent on Thursday to Trump’s cabinet officials.
The letter was sent to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons.
The signatories included several US senators, including Independent Bernie Sanders, and Democrats Tina Smith; Peter Welch; Chris Van Hollen; Elizabeth Warren; and Jeffrey Merkley.
Several Democratic members of the House of Representatives who had spoken out earlier about Ozturk’s arrest also signed the letter.
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Democratic Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley called Ozturk’s arrest “a horrifying violation of Rumeysa’s constitutional rights to due process and free speech”.
In a statement, Pressley called for Ozturk to be immediately released.
"We won’t stand by while the Trump Administration continues to abduct students with legal status and attack our fundamental freedoms.”
Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, said the Trump administration was “abducting people off the streets” in a post on Instagram.
"They are starting with people who stand up for Palestinians and human rights…but they won't stop there,” she said.
“Next will be environmental justice and abortion care advocates, those fighting corporate greed, union members and others resisting Project 2025," she added.
'Ideological test'
Project 2025 was a Republican blueprint for the Trump administration that called for alterations to large swaths of the US government.
Masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents approached and physically restrained Ozturk while on the street in Somerville, Massachusetts, earlier this week before taking her into custody. She is being held at the South Louisiana Processing Center.
Chilling video footage of the incident on Tuesday shows a man approaching Ozturk while she was on the phone with her mother and grabbing her wrists. Five other agents surrounded her, removed her backpack, and placed her in handcuffs before escorting her away.
Ozturk, looking terrified, could be heard screaming that she had done nothing wrong.
One student told Middle East Eye for an earlier article that Ozturk hadn’t been seen at pro-Palestinian events that began on campuses after Israel’s war on Gaza started, following Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel.
But Ozturk may have been arrested for co-authoring a March 2024 opinions article in the university newspaper, Tufts Daily, renewing calls for the university to adopt the Tufts Community Senate Resolutions, to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, apologize for University President Sunil Kumar’s statements, disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel”.
In their letter, the US lawmakers requested that Trump’s cabinet officials state why they arrested Ozturk, which agency conducted the arrest, and provide details about why the officers involved were undercover with their faces concealed.
Rubio suggested earlier this week that he had revoked Ozturk’s visa. The lawmakers asked him to stipulate specifically under what legal authority he terminated it and what notice Ozturk received.
On Friday, an exclusive report from Ken Klippenstein stated that the Trump administration is now requiring foreign students to pass an "ideological test" to obtain a visa, which requires consular officers to conduct a social media review of applicants for evidence of "terrorist connections".
This applies to new and returning students, with evidence of "terrorist" connections being broadly described as “advocating for, sympathizing with, or persuading others to endorse or espouse terrorist activities or support”.
The directive also recommends taking screenshots of the material found to be objectionable.
The report states that the directive applies to the student F (academic), M (vocational) and J (exchange) visa categories
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