State Repression in Plain Sight: AMP Condemns the Abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk, PhD Student at Tufts University [Washington, D.C. - March 26th, 2025] The Trump administration is escalating its war on pro-Palestinian voices. On March 25th, in broad daylight and without any warning, half a dozen ICE agents surrounded Turkish national, Rumeysa Ozturk, who is here on a legal student visa pursuing her PhD, as she was walking to meet her friends to break their fast on the evening of March 25th. Camera footage shows ICE agents stopping and forcefully detaining Ms. Ozturk unwarrantedly. Her lawyer is unaware of her whereabouts and remains unable to contact her. Rumeysa’s disappearance follows a string of ICE abductions of students across the country, starting with Mahmoud Khalil and Leqaa Kordia (Columbia University) and Badar Khan Suri (Georgetown) earlier this month all while seeking to revoke the green card of a Korean American, Columbia University student Yunseo Chung, and demanding Cornell University student Momodou Taal to turn himself in, after revoking his visa. Immigration and Customs Enforcement claims Ms. Ozturk’s visa has been revoked and has initiated deportation proceedings. However, a federal judge has ordered that she not be removed from Massachusetts without prior notice.  The Trump administration has made it their mission to go after students who are vocally against the genocide in Gaza. In fact, the New York Times reports that prior to the abduction of Ms. Ozturk, the doxxing site Canary Mission profiled her just weeks before and made her a target of government agencies eager to boost their deportation numbers. This collaboration between obscure Zionist groups with ties to Israel and US agencies has become a troubling and dangerous trend. This proves that US government agencies may be taking direction from groups influenced by foreign governments, contradicting this administration’s claim to being “America First.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified these ICE abductions of students under the pretext of students being opposed to US foreign policy. Essentially, the United States government is eviscerating centuries of core American concepts such as freedom of speech, dissent, and assembly in order to protect another country as it engages in genocide. From executive orders to recently introduced pieces of legislation, the US government has unleashed an all-out war against students and universities. What we’re witnessing is a disturbing escalation in the criminalization of free speech, dissent, and peaceful assembly as thousands of students and faculty across the country have engaged in powerful protests against the genocide in Gaza over the last 17 months, making it the largest mass movement for Palestine in the history of the United States. Targeting students like Rumeysa isn’t just an attack on individual voices–it’s a direct reversal of centuries of American values rooted in free expression and civil liberties, all to appease a foreign government, Israel. The way ICE ambushed and detained a peaceful scholar in unmarked cars feels less like law enforcement and more like a political kidnapping. American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) strongly condemns the Trump administration’s enablement of this crackdown on dissent and demands the immediate release of Rumeysa Ozturk. This administration is empowering secret police-style tactics against students who speak out against war crimes. Detaining peaceful scholars in the dead of night, surveilling campuses, and fast-tracking deportations to silence criticism of a foreign government is not only authoritarian — it’s un-American. It’s as if the rule of law has been suspended, and nobody with a differing political opinion of the administration is safe. We refuse to accept a future where speaking out against genocide is treated as a criminal act. We demand accountability, transparency, and justice — starting with the release of Rumeysa, Mahmoud, Leqaa, Badar Khan Suri, and others as well, as an end to the political persecution of pro-Palestinian students across the country. In solidarity,
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) | 
