SOMERVILLE, MASS. (WHDH) - Hundreds of people have gathered in Somerville calling for the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Tuesday.
The rally took place feet away from Tufts where officials say Ozturk is an international student in the graduate program.
As the crowd learned Ozturk was transferred to Louisiana, gatherers booed.
The President of Medford City Council spoke with 7NEWS, saying this arrest wasn’t right.
“I saw the video of a neighbor, essentially being abducted out in front of their home by people wearing masks, not identifying themselves for no reason,” said Zac Bears, Medford City Council President. “It’s just brought home the crisis that we are facing around the country. This is exactly the wrong thing for America. It is the wrong thing for Medford.”
Earlier this month, a Brown University Professor and doctor, Rasha Alawieh, was deported to Lebanon despite a federal judge ordering her to remain in the U.S.
The Department of Homeland Security says it was because she attended a funeral for a Hezbollah leader.
“I am a Zionist. It hurts me that I have to stand in solidarity with these people because I don’t think they really believe in free speech, but if we let the government come after them, they are going to come after me next,” said Tufts freshman Eli Stettner.
“I also believe that even people I do not agree with, they need to be able to express themselves, and the idea that we are going to start limiting the first amendment and going after people because they are saying something we don’t like, that’s insane,” said David Fleig of Somerville.
“I have family members who are afraid to travel outside of the U.S. right now because they are afraid they are not going to be let back in,” said Fleig. “There’s no respect for the law, there’s no respect for the Bill of Rights, so where is it going to end?”
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