Doorbell cam captures moment DHS cuffs hijab-wearing grad student who criticized school
A doorbell video showed a terrified Turkish national in a hijab being handcuffed and led away by agents from the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday near the Tufts University campus in Massachusetts.
The attorney for Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, said the grad student was heading to meet friends to break the Ramadan fast when she was surrounded by officers and pulled from the street.
CNN's Gloria Pazmino gave a breakdown of the video.
"You can see that there are several cars parked in this area," Pazmino began. "Then, as she enters the frame, you can see that officers approach her. They surround her. She tries to engage with them, and in the video, you can hear the officers say, 'We are the police.' They don't seem to state any other reason for why they are detaining her. They then put her in handcuffs. They remove her backpack, and then you're going to see the moment in which they lead her away and put her into an SUV and drive off."
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Rumeysa's attorney told CNN that she still doesn't know what the charges are or where her client is being detained.
"We do know that back in March of 2024, she, along with other students at Tufts University, published an op ed in which she was critical of the university leadership for not being supportive of students who were speaking out on behalf of Palestinians and on the Palestinian issue," Pazmino said.
The op-ed said the student government demanded that the "University acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, apologize for University President Sunil Kumar’s statements, disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel."
Pazmino continued that Rumeysa's lawyer has filed a motion with the court in Boston "to make sure that her deportation, if there's going to be a deportation proceeding, can be stopped."
In a statement, a Trump administration spokesperson claimed that "DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas," according to Salon. "The spokesperson did not suggest Ozturk had committed any crime, and confirmed that she had permission to be in the U.S. as a foreign student, but said that a 'visa is a privilege, not a right.'"
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, the leader of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University in New York, calling it "the first arrest of many to come."
