An internal memo shows that days before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk, a student at Tufts University, the U.S. State Department had determined that there was no evidence that Ozturk had ever engaged in any anti-Semitic activity nor made statements in support of Hamas or similar organizations. The memo originated from an office within the State Department and would seem to disprove later claims by the Department of Homeland Security that Ozturk made statements “in support of Hamas,” according to the Washington Post. The memo includes the fact that there was a search of the entire U.S. government database and found no evidence against Ozturk. Ozturk was a Fulbright Scholar from Türkiye and a PhD student in child study and human development in the U.S. on an F-1 student visa, when, on March 25, she was handcuffed, then chained at the waist and put in ankle shackles during her arrest as she was leaving her home in Somerville, Massachusetts. She is currently being held at a detention facility in Vermont and will have her next hearing on April 14.
Her arrest drew international outrage when a video of the event went viral. Even a leading pro-Israel group on campus wrote an op-ed calling for her release. While criticizing Ozturk’s opinions, the op-ed stated, “...but restricting freedom of speech is flat-out undemocratic and un-American. Freedom of speech in a democracy is sacred. It ensures that dissent is heard and that people can express themselves—it is the best tool we have to fight tyranny. Right now, our freedom of speech is under attack.”
Meanwhile there is a fight to stop the deportation of Georgetown University’s Dr. Badar Khan Suri, a citizen of India, who was arrested by immigration agents on March 17 and is being held at an immigration detention center in Alvarado, Texas. He is a senior postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. On April 13 more than 370 alumni of Georgetown University and 65 current students there signed a letter calling for Suri’s release. The letter states, “We see his detention clearly for what it is: an attempt to instill fear, silence critical thought, and erode solidarity among students and scholars of varying backgrounds and identities. We reject this attempt and demand his immediate release.” The letter points out that no evidence against Suri has ever been shown and it calls on the university to defend academic freedom and help organize a collective response. The letter also calls upon all universities nationwide along with their alumni, students, and faculty to unite in rejecting these attacks.
