On March 9th, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University, sent an uneasy text message to Najiba Akbar, a former Muslim pastor at the university.
“I recently learned that someone added all the information to the DOXX website called Canary Mission for an OP-ED released last March,” Ozturk wrote. She was trying to figure out what to do about it.
The website released her resume and her photo with a red head scarf, claiming that she was “engaged in anti-Israel activities.” It also links to an opinion essay she wrote with three other students in the Tufts Student Newspaper. This criticizes the university for not sanctioning Israel in the war in Gaza.
Ozturk never attacked the pastor as an activist type or as a movement face. She was more introverted and liked to be kind and was someone who stayed late to help clean after her activities at the interfaith center at the university.
So Akbar was shocked this week when he heard that the government had revoked Ozturk's visa.
The Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Immigration and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Investigation have concluded that Ozturk is “engaged in supporting Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that enjoys the murder of Americans.”
At this week's press conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about her detention. “We've given you a visa to come and study and get your degree,” he said.
Her friend and professor said the characterization was not equal to what she knew about Ozturk. “She wasn't on campus, so that really doesn't make any sense,” Akbar said. “I don't think she was working in a banned group like a student for Palestinian justice. From what I know, she was taking a PhD.”
He is one of many international students his government is trying to deport after President Trump has pledged to fight anti-Semitism on campus and punish student protesters for fraud. Her detention suggests that the government is throwing a wide range of nets, and discovering that some not only famous protesters who have pushed restrictions and broken rules, but also have been involved more quietly.
The American Civil Liberties Union signed the lawsuit Friday, filing a trial requesting her release from custody, claiming that detaining her was a violation of her initial right to amendment, which extends to non-citizens of American soil.
“Lumesa's arrest and detention are designed to punish her speech and to cool off other people's speeches,” the complaint states. Her lawyer filed a complaint in federal court in Boston and named the defendant President Trump. Rubio; Kristi Noem, secretary to the Department of Homeland Security. And the immigration officer.
On Friday, a federal judge ruled that she could not move abroad until the court again controls.
Oztzurk has not been charged with a crime, and her friends are at a loss to understand how introspective students match laws that match the portraits of political activists presented by the government.
“She doesn't drive, but if she drives, she doesn't even have a parking ticket,” said Reyan Bilge, a professor of psychology in Northeastern. “That's the kind of person we're talking about.”
Her friends also say they have never seen any indication that Ozturk is anti-Semitic.
“This isn't fighting anti-Semitism. It hurts your cause too,” said Dr. Birge, who taught Ozturk at Seheer University in Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Bilge wrote Ms. Ozturk's recommendation for the Fulbright scholarship that took her to the United States. She received her master's degree from Teachers College at Columbia University.
Surveillance cameras captured Ozturk's arrest on Tuesday evening. It has received millions of views and sparked widespread rage over social media. This video shows federal agents in masks and face masks surrounding her on the sidewalk. They carry her phone and her backpack, handcuff her and husting her into an unmarked car.
When ice agents surrounded her, Oztzurk was talking to her Turkish mother on her cell phone, Dr. Birge said, adding, “She told her mother to call her best friend in Boston.”
Her attorneys were unable to find her or communicate with her almost 24 hours after she was taken into custody, according to court documents. In the meantime, she said she had no asthma medication and was hit by an asthma attack on her way to a Louisiana detention center.
Her other Turkey professor, Mehmet Fatih Uslu, recalled her undergraduate dissertation being impressive and reflects her sensitive nature. We focused on the representation of death in children's literature.
“The idea that she supports all forms of violence is absolutely inconceivable,” he said. “The allegations linking her to Hamas are totally unfounded and ridiculous.”
The group cited her opinion essay, Canary Mission, says the goal is to document “individuals and organizations that promote America, Israel and Jews on university campuses in North America.” However, pro-Palestinian students say they have made their personal information public online to be harassed. The group did not list employees or funding sources on its website and did not immediately return a request for comment.
In a statement, Ice said it was not using Canary Mission tips.
Friends said they really didn't know how Ozturk co-written the essay. They suggested that she may have been motivated by her interest in the welfare of her children. She was studying children's development. “She loves children,” Dr. Bilge said. “She cares deeply about children's rights, women's rights, animal rights – plant rights!”
The opinion essay states that “reliable accusations against Israel include accounts of the deliberate hunger and indiscriminate massacre of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide.”
The Tufts administration has said that the university will “deny and completely inadequate” the sale of its university from Israel and accept the massacre of the Palestinians.
Former pastor Akbar said Ozteruk wanted to hold an event about the impact of the children were affected by violence and how they could support them through it. “I think she was inspired by Gaza and wanted to spread it to Ukraine,” she said.
Dr. Bilge was eating Ramadan pondorn with his family around 5am. She recalled calls from both the US and Turkey filled with messages of people reaching out to her, asking if she had heard the news.
“It was incredible to think of “rumeysa” and “detention” in the same sentence, within the same paragraph,” she said.
Dr. Bilge said earlier this week that she hadn't noticed the essay. However, she said she was fully supportive of the writing tone because it was “peace” and “based on the values of academic research.”
She said her friends abroad are already reconsidering whether to cancel their trip for a conference in the US. “Why do you experience the stress of thinking you could be detained anytime?” she said.
ang li Reports of contributions.
