As creators, scholars, and producers who make and study video, audio, interactive & print experiences for children, we are speaking out of deep concern for Rümeysa Öztürk. Rümeysa, a developmental psychologist, Fulbright scholar, Ph.D. student at Tufts University, and our colleague was arrested by ICE outside her home on Tuesday night, March 25th.

She is a soft-spoken scholar of young people’s engagement with media; a loving, caring advocate for kids; a credit to her homeland, Türkiye, and to the U.S. where she has studied and conducted research for six years. Many of us have had first-hand personal and professional interactions with her over this period–as academics, as creatives, and as colleagues. 

As a guest in our country, Rümeysa has not, as some imply, disrupted any of our institutions or our society. Her publicly expressed views pose no threat to national security or foreign policy. To the contrary, she has respectfully and constructively contributed to some of the most important conversations of our times. While some of the undersigned support her views and others passionately reject them, Rümeysa's right to freedom of speech is our right to freedom of speech. 

As a community of makers dedicated to raising compassionate, caring, and thoughtful kids, we are heartbroken for Rümeysa, detained without stated charges or due process. We are dismayed that our government would behave with such unfairness and cruelty. Furthermore, we are concerned that our government would display and model such behavior for our children. We stand together for Rümeysa's immediate release from custody, return to Tufts, and reinstatement of her visa status.