No evidence links Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk to terrorism: Reports

The US State Department has found no evidence to support allegations that Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University, was involved in antisemitic activity or supported terrorism, according to a report in The Washington Post.

According to the report, a memo from the State Department dated March found no basis for revoking Ozturk’s visa.

This followed claims by the Trump administration that she had supported Hamas, engaged in antisemitism, or been involved in violent actions, as previously alleged by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The memo, which was shared with The Washington Post by anonymous sources, indicated that Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not have adequate justification to revoke Ozturk’s visa under a provision meant to protect US foreign policy interests.

Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and PhD student in child and human development, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents outside her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Her detention followed criticism by the pro-'Israel' website Canary Mission, which had targeted her for co-authoring an op-ed in The Tufts Daily in March 2024. The op-ed criticized the university’s response to 'Israel’s' military actions in Gaza, which have resulted in the deaths of over 51,000 Palestinians.

A memo from DHS, sent by senior official Andre Watson to a State Department colleague, claimed that Ozturk had engaged in anti-'Israel' activism following Hamas' October 7, 2023 attacks on 'Israel'.

Specifically, the memo highlighted her co-authored article calling for Tufts University to disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to 'Israel'.

A separate internal memo, reviewed by The Washington Post, revealed that DHS had recommended Ozturk’s visa be revoked under the Immigration and Nationality Act. However, it was noted that no US government databases linked Ozturk to terrorism. Additionally, the visa revocation would have been done "silently," meaning Ozturk would not have been informed in advance.

A viral video from the incident showed masked ICE agents handcuffing Ozturk and seizing her phone during her detention.

Ozturk’s case is part of a wider crackdown by the Trump administration on pro-Palestinian students and academics, with other high-profile cases including the detention of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate, and Badar Khan Suri, a researcher at Georgetown University.