Turkish Student at Tufts University Detained, Video Shows Masked People Handcuffing Her

[riversedge]

Source: usnews.com



A lawyer for a Turkish national who is a doctoral student at Tufts University says she has been detained by federal agents without explanation

March 26, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.



BOSTON (AP) — A Turkish national who is a doctoral student at Tufts University has been detained by federal agents without explanation, her lawyer said on Wednesday.

Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, had just left her home in Somerville to meet with friends Tuesday night when she was detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents, lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai said in a petition filed in Boston federal court.


Surveillance video obtained by The Associated Press appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking away Ozturk's phone as she yelled and was handcuffed.

“We’re the police,” members of the group are heard saying in the video.

A man is heard on camera saying, “Why are you hiding your faces?”

Khanbabai said that Ozturk, who is Muslim, was meeting friends for iftar, a meal that breaks a fast at sunset during Ramadan.

“We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her. No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of," Khanbabai said in a statement.

Ozturk has a visa allowing her to study in the United States, Khanbabai said.

Neighbors said they were left rattled by the arrest, which played out at 5:30 p.m. on a residential block.

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Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2025-03-26/turkish-student-at-tufts-university-detained-video-shows-masked-people-handcuffing-her

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Link to tweet

In this image taken from security camera video, Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, is detained by Department of Homeland Security agents on a street in Sommerville, Mass., Tuesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo)

[mahina]

1. This is bad.

[yardwork]

3. Yes it is.

[Think. Again.]

2. This is absolutely terrifying.

And I guess that's the point.

[riversedge]

4. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley: This is a horrifying violation of Rumeysa's constitutional rights to due proc

Cori Bush reposted
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley
@RepPressley
This is a horrifying violation of Rumeysa's constitutional rights to due process and free speech.

She must be immediately released.

And we won't stand by while the Trump Administration continues to abduct students with legal status and attack our fundamental freedoms.

Link to tweet

[AmericaUnderSiege]

5. Yeah, that's a kidnapping.

I hope people with the means pursue the matter with all due rage. You do not behave like this in America even if you did have cause. Every level of government with the power to do so must put out arrest warrants for these animals.

[moniss]

6. I would point out that if they yelled "we're the police"

without being the police there may be some legal issues to be brought up. ICE or CBP or FBI or Secret Service etc. are not police. They are agents of those agencies. That is their title. An FBI agent doesn't get to roam around willy-nilly around the country and falsely claiming to be the "police". But I could see where some of the goons that appear to be from ICE or CBP may be former cops that were fired for being on steroids or too many lawsuits for illegal use of force.

[tornado34jh]

7. Very suspicious. Are these universities being selective about which students they want to product?

It seems awfully convenient all this is occurring after Trump was elected. The big cynic in me thinks that the whole thing with Harvard, Penn and MIT, etc. and the congressional hearings were all a set up.

[BeyondGeography]

8. Chris Hayes just did a spot on this

She’s being held in Louisiana.

This makes me sick.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. Welcome to DU