WATCH: Federal agents arrest Ph.D student for her support of Palestinians

From PBS NewsHour.

Federal authorities arrested a doctoral student from Turkey studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts earlier this week shortly after she departed from her off-campus home.

Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, had a valid F-1 student visa, according to her attorney.

A spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said federal officials detained Ozturk and revoked her visa for being “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” The agency did not provide evidence that showed Ozturk supported Hamas.

Ozturk’s friends and colleagues said she was not closely involved in on-campus protests last spring that supported Palestinian causes. She co-authored an op-ed in the student newspaper that urged the university to engage with students calling on Tufts to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, apologize for University President Sunil Kumar’s statements, disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.”

U.S. government lawyers said Thursday in a court filing that Ozturk was moved to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana after a judge ordered her to be kept in Massachusetts.

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