A Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University was forcibly detained by federal immigration agents on a residential street in Somerville, near Boston, late Tuesday evening, in a scene captured on video that has sparked outrage and concern.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed Wednesday that the student, Rumeysa Ozturk, had her student visa revoked by the Trump administration over alleged “activities in support of Hamas,” a claim that has intensified debates over free speech and immigration policy.
Ozturk, a 30-year-old Ph.D. candidate in Tufts’ child study and human development program, was reportedly on her way to break her Ramadan fast with friends when plainclothes agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) approached her.
Security footage and bystander recordings show six individuals surrounding Ozturk, confiscating her phone and backpack before handcuffing her as she screamed in distress.
“We’re the police,” one agent can be heard saying, though a bystander challenged their concealed identities, shouting, “Why are you hiding your faces? Is this a kidnapping?”
Tufts University President Sunil Kumar announced the incident in a late-night email to the campus community, stating that the university had no prior knowledge of the arrest, which occurred off-campus. “From what we have been told subsequently, the student’s visa status has been terminated,” Kumar wrote, adding that the university is seeking further details.
A Tufts spokesperson later confirmed Ozturk’s identity and her enrollment in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin defended the detention in a statement posted to X, asserting that investigations revealed Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.”
McLaughlin emphasized, “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 statement provided no specific evidence of Ozturk’s alleged actions, leaving questions about the basis for the accusation.
The arrest comes amid a broader Trump administration crackdown on international students linked to pro-Palestinian activism, following an executive order signed in January to combat antisemitism.
Ozturk had co-authored a March 2024 op-ed in The Tufts Daily, criticizing the university’s response to student demands to divest from companies tied to Israel and acknowledge what the piece called a “Palestinian genocide.”