A doctoral student of Tofts UniversityRoumeissa Ozturk, was walking alone on Tuesday night on the street near her apartment in Somersville, Massachusetts. Go to meet her friends for Iftar, when Six police officers with politicians Suddenly, they surrounded her.

The 30 -year -old screamed in fear when a man with a hooded sweatshirt and a hat grabbed her from the wrists, while another pulled their hidden signal and confiscated her cellphone.

Immediately afterwards, police officers had surrounded her on the sidewalk they covered their mouths, while some of them were wearing sunglasses.
‘We’re the Police’they are heard in a video that makes the internet tour.

“Yes, but you don’t look (police). Why do you hide your faces? “, It sounds like someone says.

Masked police officers then passed handcuffs in Ozturk and led her to a vehicle and removed.

Turkish student who has Student visa was driven “In many states” and many government offices, its legal team said.

The next morning, She threw 1,500 miles away from her homein a installation for immigrants in Alexandria, Louisiana – despite the judicial order about 6 hours after her arrest, according to which she should not be moved Outside Massachusetts without a 48 -hour notice.

During her transfer to Louisiana, the woman suffered asthma crisiswhile she was not given the opportunity to speak with a lawyer, her representative complains.

Ozturk is one of the many international students who are faced with deportation after the Trump government’s order to combat the aegi to campuses.

The arrests of scientists and students by masked police officers who are ambushed on the streets of the city have caused a shudder in the international student community.

Following Ozturk’s arrest, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior said that ‘Participated in Hamas Support activities’, without specifying what these supposed activities were.

Her lawyers complain that is unjustly punished because he spoke in favor of Palestinian rights.

While a judge has since stopped its deportation, Ozturk’s lawyers continue to They are fighting for its release.

Her agonizing search

After Ozturt never arrived at her destination, her friends began to seek her eagerly.

Because she was suffering from asthma, her relatives were worried that she had something and had no access to her medicines. Fearing that she could have undergone an incident, her lawyers contacted local hospitals.

On Tuesday night and Wednesday, her lawyers tried to locate Ozturk. They called ICE offices (US Inspection and Customs Service) and detention facilities in New England with no result. ICE prisoners’ online tracking system showed that the Ozturk was in custodybut the field of Detention store remained empty.

A spokesman for the Turkish consulate went to the Ice offices in Berlington, Massachusetts and was informed that Ozturk was not in the office and that the Ice could not provide further information About her fate. Ministry of Justice advisers also informed its lawyers that they could not locate it.

Had passed 24 hours And no one could contact her. Eventually, her lawyers managed to talk to her on Wednesday night.

No categories have been brought against herher lawyer said in CNN. Her visa was recalled on March 21stbut was not notified Until she received a notice of ICE appearance after her arrest, the report said.

On Friday, a federal judge in Boston issued an order to stop Ozturk’s deportation.

The student had about 10 months to complete her doctorate in children’s study and human development at the university, her brother stressed. The woman has been studying in the US since 2018, having received a master’s degree from Columbia University with a scholarship, according to her lawyers.

“Her arrest and detention have been designed to punish her word and stifle the word of others.”her lawyers say.

“Indeed, its arrest and detention are part of a coordinated and systematic effort by Trump administration officials to punish students and others who are identified with Philopalaistine activism”they emphasize.

An opinion article he had written a year ago Rubio invokes

On March 26, 2024, Ozturk wrote an article in the school newspaperin which he criticized the Tofch’s response In a call for a student team to firm the university from companies with ties with the Israelamong other things, because of the conflict in Gaza.

“Reliable accusations against Israel include testimonies of deliberate hunger and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and genocide,” wrote.

Asked about the case and the Ozturk report on Thursday, the Foreign Minister Mark Rubio assumed, without any evidence, that participated in student protests For the Israeli war in Gaza.

“If you apply a visa to enter the United States and be a student and tell us that the reason you come to the US is not only because you want to write articles, but because you want to participate in movements involved in things like vandalism, universities, harassmentsaid Rubio.

American Foreign Minister found that Ozturk’s supposed activities would have “Serious negative consequences on foreign policy and would endanger an urgent interest in US foreign policy”, ” Trisia Mclaflin, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, told CNN on Thursday.

Her family believes that the 30 -year -old was targeted for her beliefs.

At the same time, the video of arrest of Ozturk has cause rage. Hundreds of people complained about arresting it Wednesday night at a park at the edge of the campus.

“The fact that one can simply disappear in the abyss because he expressed an idea is absolutely scary,” A protester reported.
And the university president described the video of the arrest “worrying”.

Give a fight for its release

Following Ozturk’s arrest, her lawyers have filed with the Boston federal regional court, questioning the legitimacy of her detention and asking for Do not move out of Massachusetts.

Regional Judge Intira Talvani accepted their request on Tuesday not to move out of state “without prior notice”. But Ozturk had already been transferred outside Massachusetts when federal officials were ordered by the court.

Judge Dennis Casper, who blocked the expulsion ofwrote in her order that the student “It will not be removed from the United States until a newer order of the court.” Thus, the deportation proceedings stopped until it was decided whether the Boston court has jurisdiction to decide whether Ozturk was held legally.

“This is a first step to liberate and return to her home in Boston to continue her studies,” The lawyer said in a statement. “But we should never get here from the beginning: Roumeisa’s experience is shocking, cruel and unconstitutional‘he stressed.