{"id":268166,"date":"2025-03-27T16:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/27\/turkish-student-detained-by-masked-us-agents-for-supporting-hamas\/"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:53:07","slug":"turkish-student-detained-by-masked-us-agents-for-supporting-hamas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/27\/turkish-student-detained-by-masked-us-agents-for-supporting-hamas\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish student detained by masked US agents for ‘supporting Hamas’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US immigration authorities have detained and revoked the visa of a Turkish student – accusing her of supporting Hamas.<\/p>\n

Footage showed masked and plain clothes agents taking 30-year-old Rumeysa Ozturk into custody near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

The doctoral student, at Tufts University near Boston, had voiced support for Palestinians in Israel’s war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X that DHS and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigations had determined the Turkish national had “engaged in activities in support of Hamas<\/a><\/strong>, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans”.<\/p>\n

“A visa is a privilege not a right,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated,” she added, giving no further details.<\/p>\n

Mahsa Khanbabai, the student’s lawyer, said in a petition filed in a Boston federal court that Ozturk, who is Muslim, was meeting friends for iftar, a meal that breaks a fast at sunset during Ramadan, when she was detained on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Ms Khanbabai said in a statement: “We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her.”<\/p>\n

She added no charges had been filed against Ozturk “that we are aware of”.<\/p>\n

Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an article in a student newspaper last March that criticised Tufts’ response to Israel’s<\/strong><\/a> war on Hamas and attacks in Gaza<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student, was detained after a DHS and ICE investigation. Pic: AP
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A DHS spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that Ozturk was being detained in Louisiana<\/a> <\/strong>– despite a judge ordering her not to be moved out of the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours advance notice – and that her student visa had been terminated.<\/p>\n

It comes after Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University who has held a US permanent residency green card since 2024, was arrested and threatened with deportation<\/strong><\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

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\n Six of the agents involved were wearing face coverings. Pic: AP
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‘It looked like a kidnapping’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Video of the arrest shows six people with their faces covered approach Ozturk at around 5.30pm on Tuesday, before taking her phone away.<\/p>\n

The student is seen yelling as she is handcuffed, while one person is heard telling her: “We’re the police.”<\/p>\n

A man is heard asking the six “why are you hiding your faces?” before the DHS agents lead her away.<\/p>\n

Michael Mathis, a 32-year-old software engineer whose surveillance camera captured the arrest, told the Associated Press news agency “it looked like a kidnapping”.<\/p>\n

He added: “They approach her and start grabbing her with their faces covered. They’re covering their faces. They’re in unmarked vehicles.”<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/strong>
Legal proceedings against Khalil are an American tolerance test<\/strong><\/a>
How UK student Gaza protests were handled by police and universities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n Hundreds gathered on Wednesday to protest against the student’s arrest. Pic: AP
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Hundreds of people protested on Wednesday, demanding her release and accusing both Republicans and Democrats of failing to protect immigrants and stand up for Palestinians.<\/p>\n

“If you’ve seen the video clip, it’s unfathomable,” Reyyan Bilge, a friend of Ozturk, said.<\/p>\n

“She’s walking by herself as a young innocent woman, having nothing to do with any of the complaints… or claims [of antisemitism against students] that have been made.<\/p>\n

“There’s no reason for any of this. Let alone being discriminatory in any way, or racist or antisemitic in any way, she is an utterly nice soul and a decent person.”<\/p>\n

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Friend reacts after student detained by ICE<\/span>
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Sunil Kumar, president of Tufts University, said in a statement that the university “had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event”.<\/p>\n

As of Wednesday evening, the ICE’s online detainee locator system listed Ozturk as being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
Macron: Russia ‘reinterpreting’ agreements in Black Sea ceasefire talks<\/a>
US appears to significantly increase military presence in Middle East<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ozturk’s article came after Tufts’ community union passed a resolution demanding the university “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”, disclose its investments, and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.<\/p>\n

Friends told the Associated Press news agency that Ozturk was not closely involved in pro-Palestinian protests, but that after the article was published, her name, photo and work history were featured by Canary Mission.<\/p>\n

The website says it documents people who “promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses”.<\/p>\n

After her arrest, the Turkish<\/strong><\/a> Embassy in Washington said it was keeping in regular contact with the student’s family, monitoring the situation closely and engaged in “initiatives” with the State Department and ICE.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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US immigration authorities have detained and revoked the visa of a Turkish student – accusing her of supporting Hamas. Footage showed masked and plain clothes agents taking 30-year-old Rumeysa Ozturk into custody near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts. The doctoral student, at Tufts University near Boston, had voiced support for Palestinians in Israel’s war in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/03\/768x432\/skynews-rumeysa-ozturk-tufts-university_6868272.jpg?20250327140428","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19295,9467,5552,14965,2069,37953,18526],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268168,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268166\/revisions\/268168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}