“Rümeysa Öztürk says she’s experienced difficulty getting care and had her hijab ripped off without permission”
”A Tufts University doctoral student from Turkey is demanding her release after she was detained by immigration officials near her Massachusetts home, detailing how she feared she would be killed.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, who has since been moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Basile, Louisiana, provided an updated account of what happened to her as she walked along a street on March 25, in a document filed by her lawyers in federal court Thursday.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, who has since been moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Basile, Louisiana, provided an updated account of what happened to her as she walked along a street on March 25, in a document filed by her lawyers in federal court Thursday.
From AP: A Tufts University doctoral student from Turkey is demanding her release after she was detained by immigration officials near her Massachusetts home, detailing how she was scared when the men grabbed her phone and feared she would be killed.
Lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai said her client is a Turkish national who had a valid F-1 student visa. Tufts did not identify the student, but confirmed to WBUR that Ozturk is a PhD student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
From The Guardian:
In a declaration filed by her lawyers, she said that while at the Louisiana facility, she was told to “take that thing off your head. When Öztürk refused, she said, the nurse ripped off her hijab without permission. “ After a few minutes I put my hijab back on. But they did nothing to treat my asthma and gave me a few ibuprofen,” she said.
For the complete account, please click on the sworn statement link below.
LINK TO SWORN STATEMENT: https://www.aclum.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2025-04-10_petr_motion_for_release_return_ex_9_ozturk_82-10.pdf
Tufts Daily Original op-ed she co-authored, which led to her detainment.
Per Salon,, Öztürk, who has lived in the U.S. since 2018, is one of more than 600 students to have their visas revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who argued in a memo made public this week that he has the authority to deport individuals for their “beliefs.
Professor Daniel Kanstroom is the founder of the Boston College Immigration and Asylum Clinic, where law students advocate for indigent noncitizens and asylum-seekers. He also directs the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project, which explores the long-term impacts of deportation on families and communities. He says, “Not to be too grand about it, but I do think it’s a recurring struggle for the soul of the country. These issues are really fundamental. What kind of a country are we?” NPR
