Beyond The Dome: The deportation of a student journalist

By: Sydney Umstead, News Editor 

The Intercept reported that a student at Tufts University has been placed in an ICE detention for an op-ed she had written for the university’s student newspaper. 

The article, written by student Rümeysa Öztürk and three other graduate students, called for Tufts to “divest the school from companies with ties to Israel.” 

According to The Intercept, Secretary of State Marco Rubio “seemed to downplay the influence of the op-ed, written alongside three other Tufts graduate students, instead insinuating without evidence that Öztürk, a Turkish citizen, had vandalized her university, occupied buildings, and harassed students.” 

However, Rubio’s comments are unsupported by the court filings for the case. Prior to Öztürk’s arrest, according to the outlet, “the Department of Homeland Security revoked Öztürk’s student visa without notifying her, according to a DHS document through its Student and Exchange Visitor Program.” 

The claim against Öztürk is centered around “civil law provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” which prohibits the deportation of anyone who is not a citizen of the United States who may harm “the government’s foreign policy interests,” according to The Intercept. 

“Free speech advocates note that professing support for both Palestine and Hamas is protected by the First Amendment,” The Intercept reported. 

This argument has also been used to target the Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, just weeks prior to Öztürk’s arrest.