Tufts University student apprehended by DHS has been relocated to Louisiana

In this image taken from security camera video, Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, is detained by Department of Homeland Security agents in Sommerville, Massachusetts, on Tuesday. AP

A Tufts University student detained by Department of Homeland Security officials has been relocated to Louisiana, according to an update from the school.

DHS officials apprehended student Rumeysa Öztürk near Tufts University’s Somerville, Massachusetts, campus. The agency said the arrest was made because Öztürk had allegedly “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.”

Öztürk had been removed from Massachusetts before her lawyer could go to court and have a judge order her kept in the state, U.S. government lawyers said in a court document Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

Tufts President Sunil Kumar wrote in a campus wide email that the school is working with elected officials to support the Turkish student.

“We are in touch with local, state, and federal elected officials and hope that Rumeysa is provided the opportunity to avail herself of her due process rights,” the email said. “The university is actively working to support the Tufts community as it mobilizes its collective resources and contacts to ensure our students’ safety and wellbeing.”

The message also informed students of the school’s “protocol for engaging with government officials.” It asks students who become aware of an unannounced visit to campus by government officials to call the Tufts University Police Department.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell on Wednesday decried Öztürk’s arrest in a statement on X.

“Based on what we know, it is alarming that the federal administration chose to ambush and detain her, apparently targeting a law-abiding individual because of her political views,” it reads. “This isn’t public safety, it’s intimidation that will, and should, be closely scrutinized in court.”

Öztürk was among several authors of an op-ed in The Tufts Daily campus newspaper that called on the school to pass a Tufts Community Union Senate demanding it “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.”

“Unfortunately, the University’s response to the Senate resolutions has been wholly inadequate and dismissive of the Senate, the collective voice of the student body,” the piece reads. “We reject any attempt by the University or the Office of the President to summarily dismiss the role of the Senate and mischaracterize its resolution as divisive.”

Former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, also arrested by DHS this month, had been moved to Louisiana. A federal judge ordered he not be deported from the U.S. while court proceedings to determine the legality of the arrest play out.

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