A Turkish university student was seen on camera being detained by ICE agents.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, who is currently studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts, was swarmed by a group of individuals near her off-campus home on Tuesday.
According to her lawyer, Ozturk had been on her way to meet with friends for iftar, a meal to break her Ramadan fast, when she was grabbed off the street.
Footage of her being taken in shows a group of six people approaching her from angles, all of whom are masked and wearing gold identification badges.
As two men approach her she can be heard screaming out in horror, and is visibly shaking in the clip.
‘We’re the police,’ members of the group are heard saying in the video. A man is heard on camera saying, ‘Why are you hiding your faces?’
The group put in her handcuffs and grab her backpack from her before pulling her towards a black SUV parked across the street.
Her lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai said that it was agents from the Department of Homeland Security who had taken Ozturk.
Rumeysa Ozturk, who is currently studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts , was swarmed by a group of individuals near her off-campus home on Tuesday
Khanbabai said: ‘We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her.
‘No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of.’
Khanbabai said that Ozturk had a valid student visa as a doctoral student with Tufts officials saying they were told her visa had been terminated.
University president Sunil Kumar said in an email to faculty on Tuesday evening that the school was ‘seeking to confirm whether that information is true’.
In a statement on Wednesday, Kumar said: ‘The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event, and the location where this took place is not affiliated with Tufts University.’
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued an order on Tuesday giving the government until Friday to answer why Ozturk was being detained.
Talwani also ordered that Ozturk not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without providing advance notice.
Once notice is given, Ozturk shall not be moved out of the district for at least 48 hours, Talwani wrote.