Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Ph.D. student at Tufts University, has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in what civil liberties advocates are calling part of a broadening assault on foreign students who voice support for Palestinian rights.

ICE agents arrested Ozturk at her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts, without charges or prior notice. Ozturk, who is legally in the U.S. on a student visa, was taken into custody under opaque circumstances. Her current whereabouts have not been disclosed by ICE, and legal advocates say they have been unable to confirm which detention facility she has been transferred to. Ozturk has been vocal in organizing and attending campus protests critical of U.S. support for Israel, drawing comparisons to other foreign students now facing detention for their activism.

Since the start of Trump’s second presidency, a growing number of foreign students have been swept up in politically motivated immigration arrests. These include Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian permanent resident and Columbia University student; Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and Georgetown researcher; and Yunseo Chung, a South Korean junior at Columbia who narrowly avoided deportation after a judge intervened. Legal experts warn these cases reflect a pattern of targeting students engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy, often without due process or credible legal grounds.

Tufts University issued a brief statement saying it had no prior knowledge of the detention and did not share information with federal authorities. Ozturk is a doctoral candidate specializing in child development and trauma recovery. Her attorney has filed a habeas corpus petition, calling her arrest “a targeted retaliation against student activism.”

The Crustian Daily will continue to monitor and expose the Trump administration’s use of immigration law as a political weapon against dissent.