Rumeysa Ozturk is a bright, kind, and accomplished doctoral student who has dedicated her life to research and education. She has never posed a threat to anyone. Yet, she was taken off the street in an operation that looked more like a kidnapping than a lawful arrest—masked figures handcuffing her, seizing her phone, and refusing to identify themselves. 

Her whereabouts were unknown for hours.

No charges were filed.

She was not given due process.

This is not justice; this is an abuse of power.

Rumeysa has lived in the United States legally for years, first on a Fulbright Scholarship at Columbia University, then as a Ph.D. student at Tufts. She is described by those who know her as a gentle, thoughtful academic, not a political activist.

Her only “crime” appears to be co-authoring a student op-ed critical of Tufts University’s response to calls for Palestinian human rights—an act of free speech, not a terrorist act. Yet, without warning, her visa was revoked, and she was he was seized in a chilling display of force.

This is extreme, inhumane, and unacceptable.

A peaceful student was ambushed, dragged away, and shipped to a detention center with no explanation.

No one should be snatched off the street in a country that claims to value democracy and due process. Rumeysa Ozturk must be released immediately, and her visa reinstated. Anything less is an outrageous miscarriage of justice.

Sign to tell ICE: Let her go. Now. 

(AP Photo)