State Senator Eldridge Condemns ICE Arrest of Tufts PhD Student, Demands Immediate Release
“I am calling on Tufts University and every institution of higher education in Massachusetts to implement emergency protocols to protect their international students: legal representation, rapid response mechanisms, and public advocacy. And I am committed to using every tool available to me as an elected official to ensure that Massachusetts stands as a shield, not a bystander, in the face of these dangerous, authoritarian tactics.”
BOSTON, MA - The arrest and disappearance by the Trump-Vance administration of Ms. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish immigrant, legally-authorized visa holder and PhD student at Tufts University, at the hands of masked ICE agents on Tuesday, March 25th is a violation of federal immigration law, a direct assault on the U.S. Constitution, and a chilling attack on higher education itself. I commend our Massachusetts congressional delegation for demanding that Ms. Ozturk’s due process rights be upheld. She was quickly transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, thousands of miles away from her Tufts University community, with no formal charges and no public justification. It is incredibly disturbing that this happened on a sidewalk in Somerville, one of the most diverse, welcoming, forward-thinking and dynamic communities in Massachusetts. Ms. Ozturk must be released immediately and allowed to continue her studies at Tufts.
On Wednesday, March 26th, over 2,000 people gathered at Powder House Square in a powerful display of outrage and solidarity. This moment has struck a nerve, more than any other recent act of authoritarianism, which is reflected in the dozens of emails I have received from constituents, asking me to take actions to oppose President Trump’s attacking immigrants, often on the basis of their expressing their Constitutional right of freedom of speech.
When asked to justify the detention of Ms. Ozturk, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the federal government is allowed to revoke your visa if “you want to participate in movements that are involved in… vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, [and] creating a ruckus.” Yet no evidence has been presented by the Trump-Vance administration linking Ms. Ozturk to any such activity. Four days later, she remains imprisoned without charges. All that is clear about her is that she expressed her 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech and wrote about the suffering of Palestinians in her school newspaper. If the U.S. is now punishing non-citizens for expressing dissent, then we must ask: are citizens next?
Ms. Ozturk is one of over 300 visas that Sec. Rubio says the Trump Administration has been revoked at this point.
As Patrick Henry once said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” That principle must apply to everyone on our soil, citizen or not.
Even if ICE operates outside direct state control, that does not mean Massachusetts must remain silent or passive. I am calling on Tufts University and every institution of higher education in Massachusetts to implement emergency protocols to protect their international students: legal representation, rapid response mechanisms, and public advocacy. And I am committed to using every tool available to me as an elected official to ensure that Massachusetts stands as a shield, not a bystander, in the face of these dangerous, authoritarian tactics.
Jamie Eldridge
State Senator for Middlesex and Worcester
www.senatoreldridge.com