Biography
Rumeysa Öztürk is a Turkish national and PhD student at Tufts University whose F-1 student visa was revoked in March 2025 amid a broader U.S. government campaign targeting thousands of international students. On March 25, 2025, Öztürk was arrested in Somerville, Massachusetts, by federal Department of Homeland Security agents and subsequently held in an ICE processing center in Louisiana.
Her detention sparked widespread condemnation from civil rights advocates and elected officials, who described the actions as violating due process and free speech rights; Öztürk was reportedly shackled, moved across several states in custody, and held under harsh conditions. A federal judge later ordered her release on bail on May 9, 2025, recognizing that she had raised substantial constitutional claims in challenging the lawfulness of her detention.
The October 14, 2025 UN allegation letter describes Öztürk’s March 25 arrest in Massachusetts and transfers through New Hampshire and Vermont to Louisiana. These were movements within the same detention episode, not additional arrests or releases. The letter’s historical account does not displace her separately recorded May 9 release. Source: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=30402#page=9
