Immigration Judge Denies Bond for Tufts Student Over Pro-Palestinian Advocacy

By Staff, Agencies

An immigration judge has denied bond for Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old Tufts University graduate student from Turkey, who remains in federal detention in Louisiana after her visa was revoked, according to her legal team.

Ozturk was arrested by immigration authorities outside her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts, on March 25, shortly after returning from an iftar dinner.

The Department of “Homeland Security” [DHS] stated that her student visa had been “terminated” due to her alleged “activities in support of” the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which is designated as a “terrorist organization” by the United States.

Ozturk, a Fulbright Scholar, had published an op-ed in The Tufts Daily in March 2024, criticizing Tufts University’s “wholly inadequate” response to anti-“Israel” protests on campus. In the article, she also urged the university to divest from “Israel,” aligning with key demands of the student-led movement.

Following her arrest, Ozturk was initially held in detention centers in New Hampshire and Vermont before being transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] facility in Basile, Louisiana.

Her attorneys argue that the government’s actions violate her First and Fifth Amendment rights. They are seeking her release on bond or her transfer to a facility in Vermont. “This is a complete violation of due process and the rule of law,” her attorney, Marty Rosenbluth, said in a statement Thursday.

The immigration judge denied the bond request on Wednesday, the same day Ozturk appeared in court. According to her legal team, the DHS submitted only one document opposing her release: a State Department memo explaining the basis for her visa revocation.

The memo alleges that Ozturk’s activities “may undermine US foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students,” and specifically cites her role in co-authoring the aforementioned op-ed.