Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio
A federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday barred the deportation of a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, who voiced support for Palestinians in Israel’s war in Gaza and was detained by US immigration officials this week.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was taken into custody by US immigration authorities near her Massachusetts home on Tuesday, according to a video showing the arrest by masked federal agents. US officials revoked her visa.
The US department of homeland security has accused Ozturk, without providing evidence, of “engaging in activities in supportof Hamas”.
Her arrest came a year after Ozturk co-authored an opinion piece in Tufts University’s student newspaper criticising the university’s response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”.
A lawyer soon after sued to secure her release, and on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union joined her legal defence team, filing a revised lawsuit saying her detention violates her rights to free speech and due process.
In Friday’s order, US district judge Denise Casper in Boston said that to provide time to resolve whether her court retained jurisdiction over the case, she was temporarily barring Ozturk’s deportation.
She ordered the Trump administration to respond to Ozturk’s complaint by Tuesday.
Revoked 300 visas: Rubio
US secretary of state Marco Rubio estimated that he had signed perhaps more than300 letters revoking the visas of students, visitors and others to force their expulsion from the US because of their foreign policy views or criminal activities.
He has been signing letters daily to revoke visas since taking office in late January, Rubio told reporters on Thursday night aboard an Air Force passenger jet travelling between Paramaribo, Suriname, and Miami, where he lives with his family. Rubio was concluding a three-nation tour in the Caribbean and South America.
“I don’t know actually if it’s primarily student visas,” he said. “It’s a combination of visas. They’re visitors to the country. If they’re taking activities that are counter to our foreign, to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa.”
He said he reviewed each case himself before signing off on actions that would be taken by immigration agents.
Reuters and New York Times News Service