Turkish PhD candidate loses US visa over support for Hamas

Federal authorities detained a Turkish student residing in the US and stripped her of her visa, accusing her of supporting Hamas.

By World Israel News Staff

A Turkish national participating in a doctoral program in the United States was detained and stripped of her student visa this week after she lobbied in favor of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in the midst of the war against Hamas.

On Tuesday evening, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained 30-year-old Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk under President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the deportation of pro-Hamas foreign students studying at American colleges.

According to her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk was taken into custody near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, while she was en route to meet with friends to break that day’s Ramadan fast.

Ozturk’s F-1 student visa was subsequently cancelled, and deportation proceedings were initiated against Ozturk.

Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said on Wednesday that immigration authorities had found Ozturk to be an active supporter of the Hamas terror organization, without providing details.

“Rumesya Ozturk is a Turkish national and Tufts University graduate student, granted the privilege to be in this country on a visa. DHS + ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans,” McLaughlin said. “A visa is a privilege not a right. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is commonsense security.”

Ozturk’s detention came a year to the day after an opinion piece she co-authored was published in a school newspaper.

In the article, Ozturk and the three other authors accused Israel of “genocide” in its war against Hamas and called on Tufts to divest from the Jewish state.

After Ozturk was taken into custody, Khanbabai filed a habeas corpus petition in a federal court in Massachusetts. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani responded with an order barring immigration authorities from removing Ozturk from Massachusetts without 48 hours prior notice and justification for any relocation.

However, Khanbabai claimed on Wednesday that Talwani had been transferred to a detention center in Louisiana.

Hundreds of people gathered outside of Tufts University in Somerville to protest Ozturk’s detention and loss of her visa.

Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren castigated the Trump administration for the arrest, which she called “the latest in an alarming pattern to stifle civil liberties.”