Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University graduate student detained last week by ICE, received a show of support at rallies Tuesday.
Multiple demonstrations were held Tuesday to rally in support of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student who has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Ozturk, who is from Turkey, was detained by masked, plainclothes ICE agents last week in Somerville. The encounter was caught on camera.
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Ozturk had a valid student visa, which the administration revoked, accusing her of engaging in activities in support of Hamas. The government has not provided evidence of this. Ozturk's supporters believe she was targeted because of an op-ed she and three other students wrote in The Tufts Daily, a school newspaper.
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Supporters gathered for one rally Tuesday at Tufts University. At another in Boston, union workers came together for one of their own.
"When you come for one of us, you come for all of us," said April Verrett, president of Service Employees International Union.
Ozturk is a member of SEIU.
"We stand together in the face of an administration that refuses to see the humanity in our immigrant neighbors," said a Tufts graduate student who did not want to be identified.
Ozturk's friends and fellow union members want her back.
"Rumeysa is always looking for ways to bring out diverse campus community together," said another Tufts graduate student who also did not want to be identified.
A judge in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts said the government can't deport her while the court is considering the case. Ozturk is being held at a facility in Louisiana.
Tom Hodgson, the former Bristol County sheriff and a vocal supporter of the Trump administration, spoke in favor of ICE's activities.
"Anybody that's involved in activities that are anti-government activities, that could be potentially inciting people or terrorists or what have you, that's also something that everybody needs to be concerned about," he said.
On Monday, Gov. Maura Healey spoke about Ozturk's case, calling for answers and saying that what has been happening has not lined up with the promises President Donald Trump made on the campaign trail.
"The Department of Homeland Security needs to provide information," she said. "We know nothing about the circumstances here. It appears that she's been targeted not because of crimes she committed, because she hadn't committed any crime. But she's been targeted because of what is free speech, and something that she signed on to in a student newspaper."
