Tufts University Pushes for Release of Student Grabbed Off the Street by Immigration Officials
Tufts University is actively advocating for the immediate release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a 30-year-old Turkish doctoral student who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on March 25, 2025. Öztürk was apprehended while walking near her residence in Somerville, Massachusetts, and subsequently transferred to a detention facility in Basile, Louisiana.
Tufts University is throwing its support behind Rümeysa Öztürk, a detained Turkish graduate student trying to fend off deportation after having her student visa revoked.
The move by Tufts to intervene in Öztürk’s legal proceedings comes amid a wave of arrests and visa revocations of students who the Trump administration alleges have engaged in “pro-Hamas” activities in protest of the war in Gaza. It marks a rare instance of a university directly challenging the Trump administration amid intense scrutiny.
