Letter from Ron Bishop
Government Has Overstepped
On the evening of Tuesday, March 25, 2025, doctoral student Rumeysa Öztürk was accosted by strangers outside her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts. A video of the event shows that Department of Homeland Security agents wearing hoodies and masks did not identify themselves verbally or with badges until after she was restrained, her cell phone and other personal effects confiscated. No arrest warrant was presented, and she was not allowed to call an attorney or anyone else for over 24 hours. Agents ignored her request for medication, and she suffered an asthma attack while in their custody.
Ms. Öztürk had traveled here on a Fulbright scholarship and completed her master’s degree at Columbia University prior to starting her doctoral studies at Tufts University. Without notifying her, Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked her F-1 (student) visa on March 21. At the earliest opportunity, her attorney filed a petition challenging her detention and requesting that she not be moved from Massachusetts. A Boston circuit court judge ruled in favor of that petition to no avail: Ms. Öztürk was already locked up in Louisiana.
No charges have been filed against her. The sole reason for her abduction appears to be an opinion editorial she co-wrote for the “Tufts Daily” on March 26, 2024, that included this statement: “Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide.” Three co-authors and 32 other graduate students endorsed the editorial. No other activism on her part was ever cited.
Secretary Rubio stated that Rumeysa’s action would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” I believe that her statement is far better supported by the available evidence than his. Secretary Rubio went on to boast that the number of student visas he has revoked “might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day.” So much for due process and the rule of law.
Seeing such aggressive shredding of free speech rights by our national officials, I conclude that this federal administration is devolving into a taxpayer-funded criminal enterprise led by a convicted felon bent on revenge. They’ve started with unlawful actions against the most vulnerable among us, but the rest of us will not long be spared. All we need do to witness the complete perversion of our government is to keep quiet. This is my country, the land of the free and home of the brave, and I will not be silent.
Ron Bishop
Cooperstown
