Who is Rumeysa Ozturk? Video shows masked federal agents arresting Turkish Tufts University student
BySumanti Sen
Mar 27, 2025 06:19 AM IST
Rumeysa Ozturk's lawyer said her client was arrested without explanation, adding, “We unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her.”
US Department of Homeland Security agents reportedly detained a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University without any explanation, her lawyer said. A video of masked people handcuffing Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, has surfaced on social media.
Demonstrators take part in the Stand with Rumeysa Ozturk,Tufts PHD Student emergency rally, at Powder House Square Park, after Ozturk was taken into custody by federal agents, in Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S. March 26, 2025 (REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi)(REUTERS)
Demonstrators take part in the Stand with Rumeysa Ozturk,Tufts PHD Student emergency rally, at Powder House Square Park, after Ozturk was taken into custody by federal agents, in Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S. March 26, 2025 (REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi)(REUTERS)
“We’re the police,” members of the group of about six people say in the video obtained by The Associated Press.
Why are you hiding your faces?” a man asks.
Ozturk’s lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai said in a petition filed in Boston federal court that her client had left her home in Somerville Tuesday night, March 25, when she was stopped. Ozturk, who is Muslim, was meeting friends for iftar, the lawyer said.
“We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her. No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of,” Khanbabai reportedly said in a statement, adding that she has a visa allowing her to study in the United States.
Who is Rumeysa Ozturk?
Last March, Ozturk reportedly wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily, where she criticised the university’s response to its community union Senate passing resolutions, demanding Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies that have direct or indirect ties to Israel. She was one of four students to write the piece.
Ozturk’s friends said that she was not otherwise closely involved in protests against Israel. After her op-ed was published, her name, photo and work history were featured by Canary Mission, a website that claims to document people who “promote hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.” The only example of “anti-Israel activism” by Ozturk cited by the website was the piece she wrote.
Ozturk obtained a master’s from the Developmental Psychology programme at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York before attending Tufts, an alumni spotlight article revealed. She was described as a “soft spoken, kind and gentle soul” by Reyyan Bilge, a friend and a psychology professor at Northeastern University. Bilge said Ozturk was deeply focused on research and not fiercely involved in the demonstrations on campus.
Ozturk and Bilge met at Istanbul Sehir University, where Bilge supervised her thesis. They later worked on cognitive research and published papers together. They remained close after Ozturk came to the US in 2018 on a Fulbright Scholarship. “Over the 10 years I’ve known her, she’s never spoken badly to anyone else, let alone being antisemitic or racist,” Bilge said.
‘It is alarming that the federal administration chose to ambush and detain her’
Michael Mathis, a 32-year-old software engineer whose surveillance camera captured Ozturk’s arrest, said it “ looked like a kidnapping.” “They approach her and start grabbing her with their faces covered. They’re covering their faces. They’re in unmarked vehicles,” Mathis added.
Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said that the school was told that an international graduate student has been detained, whose visa has been terminated. “The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event,” Kumar said.
While Kumar did not name the student who was detained, university spokesperson Patrick Collins confirmed that Ozturk is a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Democratic US Rep. Ayanna Pressley said Ozturk’s arrest was “a horrifying violation of Rumeysa’s constitutional rights to due process and free speech.” “She must be immediately released,” Pressley said in a statement. “We won’t stand by while the Trump Administration continues to abduct students with legal status and attack our fundamental freedoms.”
Calling the video “disturbing,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said, “Based on what we now know, it is alarming that the federal administration chose to ambush and detain her, apparently targeting a law-abiding individual because of her political views. This isn’t public safety, it’s intimidation that will, and should, be closely scrutinized in court.”
Meanwhile, US District Judge Indira Talwani issued an order demanding the government explain by Friday why they detained Ozturk. She also ordered that Ozturk not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours advance notice.
As of Wednesday evening, March 26, the US Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s online detainee locator system listed Ozturk as being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. Her detention and the termination of her visa confirmed by a senior DHS spokesperson. “DHS and (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans. A visa is a privilege, not a right. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is commonsense security,” the spokesperson told the AP.
On Wednesday, hundreds of supporters demonstrated in a park in Somerville, calling for Ozturk’s release. “Free Rumeysa Ozturk now,” the crowd chanted, while also raising traditional protest slogans such as “Free, free Palestine.” Many demonstrators were seen holding Palestinian flags and homemade signs supporting Ozturk, and calling out ICE.
Zoi Andalcio, a Somerville business owner, called Ozturk and others’ arrest “maddening.” “I’m outraged like everybody else about these disappearances, kidnappings of legal noncitizens, who may or may not have spoken out against the atrocious foreign policy of the United States government,” Andalcio said.
Roz Nazzaro, a retired college administrator from Winchester, Massachusetts, who held a sign that read “Hands Off,” said, “There is no distinction between undocumented immigrants, documented immigrants, green cards. It’s going to be the citizens next, if you’re the wrong color, wear a hijab.”
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