State Department Admits It Detained Tufts Student Just for an Op-Ed
It’s official: ICE kidnapped a Tufts University student over an opinion article.
Rümeysa Öztürk, Turkish doctoral student. candidate, was snatched in the street by six masked federal agents in March of last year, even after the State Department determined that the Trump administration had no evidence linking it to anti-Semitic activity.
The Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Homeland Security Investigations alleged that by co-authoring an opinion essay in the student newspaper that demanded Tufts “recognize the Palestinian genocide” and divest from Israel-linked businesses, Öztürk “created a hostile environment for Jewish students and showed support for a terrorist organization.”
A State Department Memorecently revealed Thursday, states that the Trump administration “has not provided any evidence showing that Özturk engaged in anti-Semitic activity or made any public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization or anti-Semitism in general.”
While Özturk had expressed support for a student resolution put forward by the now-banned group Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine, the Trump administration has not provided evidence that Özturk was involved in “one of the activities that resulted in TJSP’s suspension from Tufts.”
by Öztürk The apparent kidnapping was part of a wave of arrests of foreign-born academics who had simply expressed support for the Palestinians. If cruelty is the message of the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigrants and free speech, then by Öztürk the arrest was part of the opening salvo.
In May, a federal judge ordered that Özturk be released “immediately” from federal custody because she had made “substantial allegations” that her constitutional rights had been violated. “His continued detention chills the speech of millions and millions of people who are not citizens,” US District Judge William Sessions said at the time.
