A video of masked people handcuffing Rumeysa Ozturk went viral on social media.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, born in 1994, graduated from Tufts’s doctoral program for Child Study and Human Development and received her master’s degree from Teachers College at Columbia University, as per her LinkedIn profile.
Highlights
- A Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk, was arrested by immigration authorities.
- She is listed in the ICE database as “in custody” and appeared to be held at an ICE processing center in Basile, Louisiana.
- As per Rumeysa’s attorney, her visa has been revoked.
She was engaged in anti-Israel activism in March 2024 in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israelis on October 7, 2023.
Ozturk supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sancations (BDS) movement.
Surveillance Video Shows Tufts University Student Rumeysa Ozturk Was Taken Into Custody
Rumesya Ozturk, a Ph.D. scholar on a student visa at Tufts University, was walking down a street in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, to meet friends to break her Ramadan fast.
A surveillance video captured a man in a dark hoodie and baseball cap crossing toward her. The man politely says, “Excuse me, ma’am.”
Ozturk hesitates and tries to sidestep him, but another man in plain clothes appears across the street.
One of the men goes for her phone, and the other grabs at her hand. Rumeysa screams in a shocked and fearful voice.
Later, two masked women joined them, tugging at her backpack and peeling the straps from her shoulder. Ozturk pleads, saying,
“I’m going somewhere, I need to call someone,”
🚨URGENT: MPAC demands the immediate release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts student and F-1 visa holder abducted by DHS agents with no charges—on her way to an Iftar.
This is a chilling violation of civil liberties during Ramadan.
📢 Speak out. Call your Reps. #freerumeysa pic.twitter.com/qqLKJOhCVL
— MPAC (@mpac_national) March 26, 2025
In response, one of the men says, “We’re the police. Relax.”
They surround and pull their neck gaiters up to cover their faces individually. Ozturk says,
“You don’t look like police,” “Why are you hiding your faces?”
The questions continue, but the figures don’t respond. Instead, they cuff Ozturk, cross the street, and put her in an unmarked SUV.
Ozturk’s lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai, said she couldn’t contact her and had no idea of her whereabouts.
Some sources reported that she appeared to have been moved to a facility in central Louisiana.
The Assistant Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, said that DHS + ICE investigations found that Rumeysa was engaged in activities in support of Hamas.
As per Rumeysa Ozaturk’s attorney, Rumeysa had a student visa that would allow her to remain in the U.S., but a statement from Tufts said that the visa had been revoked.
More than a thousand people gathered at Powder House Square near the Tufts University campus Wednesday evening to protest the arrest and possible deportation of Rumeysa Ozturk.
The attorney has filed a writ of habeas corpus petition to release Ozturk, and the judge has given immigration officials until Friday, March 28, 2025, to respond.
Additional Information
- She was listed as the course instructor of “Intro to Children’s Media – 04” and “Youth and Media – 06” at Tufts University.
- U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called Rumeysa’s detainment the “latest in an alarming pattern to stifle civil liberties.”
- She is a Fulbright Scholar who has been studying at Tufts since 2021 and previously worked as a research assistant at Boston University in 2016.
