Unsealed court documents suggest Trump admin detained Tufts student for writing op-ed critical of Israel
Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk reads from a prepared statement following a court hearing outside the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse on December 4 in Boston.
(CNN) — Newly unsealed court documents show the Trump administration did not have evidence that Tufts University PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk was supporting terrorist activity when she was arrested and her visa was revoked, and the action was taken because of an opinion article she wrote that contained criticisms of Israel.
The documents, related to legal cases of students whose visas were revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and who were threatened with deportation last year, also show the administration found it difficult to find evidence to support the revocation of Öztürk’s visa.
In most of the cases, including that of student activist Mahmoud Khalil, the documents show the administration made its recommendations to revoke visas based on the students’ involvement in protests criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza, despite arguments from the administration of antisemitism and support for terrorism. The administration also acknowledged it would likely face scrutiny in court given the protections granted by the First Amendment.
The New York Times was first to report on the unsealed documents.
Last March, Rubio posted on X that they “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
That same month, Öztürk was detained by a plain-clothed police officer outside her home. The administration sought to deport her after revoking her student visa.
The Tufts PhD student had written an opinion piece, along with three other students, criticizing the university’s response to student activists who demanded that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
A State Department memo said Öztürk’s visa was revoked following an assessment that her actions “‘may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization’ including co-authoring an op-ed that found common cause with an organization that was later temporarily banned from campus.”
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told CNN at the time that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigations had found that Öztürk had “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.”
However, in a State Department memorandum released as part of the tranche of documents, a department official wrote that DHS, ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) had not found that Öztürk had “engaged in any antisemitic activity or made any public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization or antisemitism generally.”
The memo, prepared for the acting head of the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, which handles visas, cited the opinion piece co-authored by Öztürk.
“DHS did not identify any alternative grounds of removability that would be applicable to Öztürk, including the ground of removability for aliens who have provided material support to foreign terrorist organization or terrorist activity,” the State Department official wrote.
“Although information provided by DHS/ICE/HSI does not establish any potential ineligibility for Öztürk,” the official recommended her visa be revoked “based on the totality of the circumstances.”
The Trump administration was ordered last May to release Öztürk, with the judge saying that “continued detention potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of individuals in this country who are not citizens.”
A State Department spokesperson said Friday that “the Trump administration is using every tool available to get terrorist-supporting aliens out of our country. A visa is a privilege, not a right. We abide by all applicable laws to ensure the United States does not harbor aliens who pose a threat to our national security.”
McLaughlin on Friday defended her initial statement and claimed the opinion piece “recycled Hamas (talking points) and propaganda.”
“She makes a false genocide claim and effectively advocates for the end of Israel,” McLaughlin argued.
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