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Massachusetts bishop decries arrest of graduate student from Turkey by ICE agents

April 01, 2025

[Episcopal News Service] Massachusetts Bishop Julia Whitworth issued a statement April 1 decrying the Trump administration’s abrupt detention of a Boston-area graduate student from Turkey who is in the United States legally on a student visa. “Our Christian faith calls us to renounce the promotion of xenophobia and fear to foment dehumanization of any of God’s children, especially immigrants and our newest neighbors,” Whitworth said in highlighting the case of Rumeysa Ozturk, who is pursuing a doctorate at Tufts University. Ozturk, 30, was taken into custody on a sidewalk in the Boston suburb of Sommerville on March 25 by plain-clothes agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who could be seen in an eyewitness and surveillance videos with their faces covered as they handcuffed her. Federal officials then transferred her to a detention facility in Louisiana. The case has drawn parallels to earlier Trump administration arrests and attempted deportations of other foreign-born college students, including Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder. Like Khalil, Ozturk appears to have been targeted for her political activism, specifically an opinion essay she co-authored a year ago that was critical of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. The Department of Homeland Security said she had “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” Whitworth, in her statement opposing Ozturk’s arrest, noted that the student was taken off the street while on her way to an iftar, the end-of-day meal by which Muslims break their daily fast during Ramadan. “I reject the actions of the executive branch of our federal government in its targeting of international students for their exercise of free speech and dissent, cornerstones of our U.S. Constitution and American values,” Whitworth said. “Throughout the congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, we are committed to radical welcome, care and support of our most vulnerable neighbors and to collaboration with our ecumenical, interfaith, and secular partners for immigration justice.” Since taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump, saying he is combating antisemitism, has threatened to deport foreign-born campus protesters who opposed Israel’s war on Hamas, which Israel launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israeli communities. After Khalil, the Columbia University graduate, was detained in early March, New York Bishop Matthew Heyd issued a statement condemning the government’s actions. “In accordance with our faith and civic creed, we uphold the belief that difference and dissent should be safe,” Heyd said at the time. “We reject deportation based on political viewpoint – whether we agree or disagree.” Like Ozturk, Khalil was taken to a detention facility in Louisiana, presumably because federal authorities expect judges there will be receptive to their case against him. Khalil’s attorneys are trying to get him transferred back to New Jersey, where he lives, while they fight his deportation. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.