Free Rümeysa now.
Since shortly after Rümeysa Öztürk was abducted by federal government agents on March 25, she’s been trapped in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana. The situation is a disgrace, and there are many, many officials who should be ashamed of themselves. I’m certainly ashamed of their actions.
Öztürk now has a substantial legal team in her corner, and they’ve submitted a filing in which she describes her experience.1 It is chilling, and it ought to be required reading for every American. Excerpts follow:
5. I was detained on March 25, 2025 in the early evening. I was speaking to my mother on the phone when several men approached me on the street and then surrounded me and I screamed.
6. Since appearing on the Canary Mission website in February, I had begun to be afraid that I could be targeted for violence. When the men approached me, my first thought was that they were not government officials but private individuals who wanted to harm me. I felt very scared and concerned as the men surrounded me and grabbed my phone from me.
7. I asked who they were, and they said they were the police. I asked them for badges and one showed me a gold badge but it happened so quickly I couldn’t tell what it said. But I didn’t think that they were the police because I had never seen police approach and take someone away like this. I thought they were people who had doxxed me and I was afraid for my safety. They also didn’t respond when I asked why and if they were arresting me. I saw a neighbor recording the scene.
10. They took me out of the car and shackled my feet and belly and then put me in the car again. I again asked to speak with my attorney, but they told me that I could not.
12. We changed cars and different officers got into the car with me. I asked for a woman officer to be with us, but they said none were around. They were all wearing civilian clothes. I thought this was a strange situation and was sure they were going to kill me.
I’ve added that emphasis, but it’s a very poor substitute for screaming it out loud at every single person in the government. This is sickening. No arrest should be carried out in this manner, least of all the arrest of a graduate student who has been accused of no crime whatsoever. A foundational aspect of the rule of law in America is that even the most hardened criminal deserves due process. Yet these despicable people, and their despicable actions, caused Öztürk to reasonably fear for her life. That is simply monstrous.
There has been some progress, as last Friday, a judge ruled Öztürk must be returned to Vermont for a bail hearing by May 1. That’s a small glimmer of hope. Disgustingly, however, the federal government appealed that ruling yesterday. It remains to be seen if things will end better than they began.
