Rümeysa Öztürk’s detention is 'a national disgrace': US senator

WASHINGTON

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey said Wednesday that the detention of Turkish student Rümeysa Öztürk by immigration authorities is a "national disgrace."

"What has happened to Rümeysa Öztürk is...a national disgrace," Markey told reporters at Logan Airport in Boston.

A delegation of Democratic lawmakers including Markey, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and Rep. Jim McGovern traveled Tuesday to the state of Louisiana to meet Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil, who remain in custody at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.

Öztürk, a Fulbright scholar and PhD student in child and human development at Tufts University, was detained on March 25 by masked ICE agents outside her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Markey said Öztürk has not been charged with a crime and the government does not have any evidence that she "poses a danger" to the community.

"She told us she was afraid…They were rough with her," he said.

Calling the detentions "authoritarianism," the senator demanded the release of Öztürk and Khalil.

"What the Trump administration is doing is not immigration enforcement – it is authoritarianism," Markey said.

He said the detentions of Öztürk and Khalil are "part of an alarming trend" by the administration.

"Rümeysa is suffering as anyone would in this circumstance because of that unconstitutional action.

"Freedom of speech and the right to due process are not suggestions in our country," he added.

Öztürk, Khalil are being 'unlawfully' held in 'harrowing conditions' at ICE facilities

Pressley said Öztürk has not committed a crime.

Similarly, she said Khalil has not been convicted of any crime.

"He was simply exercising his right to free speech, something that should be protected, not punished.

"And now, instead of being home with his wife and their newborn son, he is being unlawfully detained,” she said. “This is cruel, it is unjust, and it is unacceptable."

Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to a U.S. citizen, was arrested in March for his participation in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. Despite having no criminal charges against him, he was recently denied a temporary release to attend the birth of his first child.

Pressley said Öztürk and Khalil are being "unlawfully" held in "harrowing conditions" at ICE facilities in Louisiana and "enduring shameful indignities that no one person should ever have to."

"We will never stop fighting for Rümeysa, Mahmoud and everyone who has been harmed by this cruel and callous White House.

"We reject Donald Trump’s draconian vision for our country, where dissenting voices are silenced and innocent people are disappeared off the street," she added.

'We won't stop fighting until they're released'

McGovern said the Trump administration is holding students as "political prisoners," depriving them of due process to "silence" them.

"What’s happening to Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil is a chilling and dangerous violation of their human rights," he said, adding their detentions are "immoral and wrong."

Their arbitrary detention and deprivation of due process is a violation not only of their constitutional rights, but also their rights under international human rights law, he said.

"We won't stop fighting until they're released," he added.

The Trump administration has defended the detentions by invoking a rarely used section of immigration law that allows the government to deport individuals whose presence is deemed to have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”

Öztürk and Khalil are challenging their detentions in court. Öztürk’s lawyers argue that her writings are constitutionally protected speech.