It shows, clearly, the explicit and proud policy of the Trump administration.
One of the men goes for her phone. The other grabs at her hands. Ozturk screams. Shock and fear ripple through her voice. Two masked women join them, tugging at her backpack, peeling the straps from her shoulders. “I’m going somewhere, I need to call someone,” she pleads. “We’re the police. Relax,” one of the men says in response.
They surround her. Then, one by one, they pull their neck gaiters up to cover their faces. “You don’t look like police,” a voice off screen says. “Why are you hiding your faces?” The questions continue, but the figures don’t respond. Instead, they cuff Ozturk, cross the street, and put her in an unmarked SUV. She is gone.
For the record, and I know I'm not the first to say it, this woman committed NO crime. She didn't overstay a visa, she didn't protest illegally. She wrote something the administration didn't like.
For that, she was arrested by 8 masked officers in the middle of the street, in broad daylight. She was thrown in the back on an unmarked SUV. She's received no legal representation. No trial. Not even charges, because again, she committed no crime.
Americans, you realize you're watching the death of your rights and the rule of law, right? You have no illusions about the fact that you are defenseless? There is no longer any guardrail between you and an El Salvadoran prison camp. In something that reminds me very much of Stalin, an accusation is now a conviction.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson later claimed Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization.” The person said Ozturk, who is from Turkey, had had her student visa revoked.
To be perfectly clear, Ozturk is not accused of breaking the law. The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t bothered to explain its reasoning, but several outlets reported that Ozturk co-authored a student opinion piece urging Tufts to recognize the International Court of Justice’s declaration of a “plausible risk of genocide” unfolding in Gaza and to divest from Israel. You can read the article if you like. It does not mention Hamas.
WT actual F? A school opinion piece gets you disappeared??
What was fascinating, or perhaps horrific is a better word, about the article that I didn't know about is the brief mention of "The Canary Mission"
Here's from their about page:
Canary Mission documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond. Canary Mission investigates hatred across the entire political spectrum, including the far right, far left and anti-Israel activists.
Canary Mission is motivated by a desire to combat the rise in anti-Semitism on college campuses. We pursue our mission by presenting the words and deeds of individuals and organizations that engage in anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry on the far right, far left and among the array of organizations that comprise the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Essentially they gather dossiers on private individuals that they claim are anti-semitic. So, I looked up the woman that was taken off the street like a Ukrainian draft-dodger.
Rumeysa Ozturk engaged in anti-Israel activism in March 2024, in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israelis on October 7, 2023.
Ozturk is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
What was the anti-Israel activism, you ask? I figured it was some sort of protest. Sort of like the one in New York where they occupied a building.
Nope
On March 26, 2024, Ozturk co-authored an op-ed published in the Tufts Daily newspaper titled: "Try again, President Kumar: Renewing calls for Tufts to adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions." The authors urged "President Kumar and the Tufts administration to meaningfully engage with and actualize the resolutions passed by the Senate."
The op-ed referred to the passing of anti-Israel resolutions by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, which demanded the University "...acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, apologize for University President Sunil Kumar’s statements, disclose its investments, and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel."
At Tufts university, the Community Union Senate (not really sure what this is. a student council or something) passed a 3/5ths majority resolution urging the president of the university to
acknowledge the Palestinian genocide
apologize for some statements, I don't know what
disclose its investments
divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel
She co-wrote an op-ed essentially demanding the president follow the resolution that was passed. That's the "anti-Israel activism" she's guilty of. I suppose that's enough to be deported. Be careful out there guys. If you aren't a citizen, shut up about your political views until you are. Because there are eyes out there watching everything you do. Even if you are.. consider what you are doing. You may be making an enemy of a vindictive state that is willing to break the rules.
These resolutions were the product of meaningful debate by the Senate and represent a sincere effort to hold Israel accountable for clear violations of international law. Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide.
Lock 'em up, I guess. If you believe that Palestinian civilians have a right to life then you are a terrorist-sympathizer in this administration's opinion.
These aren't law enforcement professionals detaining a suspect.
These are Nazi Brown Shirt thugs ganging up on a fucking PhD student.
This country is nosediving HARD. Arm yourselves. I would never allow plain-clothed thugs to push me into an unmarked van and take me to a secondary location. You are fighting for your life at that point for all you know.
Didn't the U.S. fight a war against a country and its leader who did the same shit? I was never very proud to be an American because this country has done some fucked up shit since 1776. But this is downright terrifying to me as someone who is disabled and considered a parasite by Elon because if they aren't stopped after this then it's game over for any "non-white" people, LGBTQ+, and poor people in general to be disappeared.
After the op-ed was published, Ozturk’s name, photograph and work history were published on the website Canary Mission, which describes itself as documenting people who “promote hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”
If you see this start filming and get them to shout their name. This is not how an arrest is done in a normal country. This is how you disappear people and how militias can fake being police to abduct and kill people.
If you are in America and are expressing pro-Palestinian views online regardless of your citizenship status, you should be seriously considering yourself a legitimate target for arrest or abduction by the state. If you haven’t already, it is essential to assess your security posture and take action as required.
If you need a starting point, take a look at the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s surveillance self-defense guide: https://ssd.eff.org/
This is horrifying. This person broke no laws. If Trump is doing this to valid green card holders for exercising their first amendment rights, then we are one degree of separation from Trump doing this to U.S. citizens who criticize him.
It's only going to continue getting worse. Make an exit plan if you haven't already.
What would happen to a bystander who physically intervened, but then was overwhelmed? Could they be get assaulting a federal officer charge, or would that be dropped because they do not show proper identification? Asking for humanity
I saw the video and it’s terrifying. Out of nowhere she’s gone and no one can contact her. Hopefully this video is a catalyst for a huge brain drain from America.
The government revoked Tufts doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk's visa due to her pro-Palestinian activism, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who added the State Department may have revoked more than 300 student visas since the beginning of the second Trump administration.
"It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa," Rubio said during a press conference in Guyana on Thursday.
I implore you to go search "Ozturk" on YouTube. A video from the NY Post comes up. Read the comments. I cannot believe the reaction of such an un-empathetic population.
We've become so complacent. A unified community would have intervened, violently if necessary. I would love nothing more than to see a crowd of folks popping out of houses and cars and surrounding these terrorists at gunpoint.
Can we stop talking about "we should, we should"? Who is actually doing?
The time for talk was over November 4th, but it is beyond over now - arm yourself, period.
Where are the community resources for community building and fighting against ICE tactics - this is what the internet is for? Who is running the underground railroad? Why are every single one of us not educated on TOR and VPNs? Who are we primarying? What are the plans for removing propaganda from our real life communities?
There are no accessible answers to these questions - this is unacceptable, and we get this in order now. No one is coming to save us, we must do it ourselves. We have a 2 month window between now and when the most in-person activity will happen (summer).
P.S. Everyone screams at the gun owners and politicians about why they won't do anything. But why would they? They'll basically throw their lives away for nothing - especially when the people they claim to fight for are so fucking spineless.
If this woman can have her First Amendment RIGHT stripped and arrested in the street by plain clothes, and every single person in this country isn't rioting, guns and laws will not fix it.
P.S P.S If you are not from America and are in a relatively free country, one of the best things you can do is host the resources for fighting the Nazis. American companies, individuals, and organization are automatically compromised.
Remember the outrage when stuff like that happens in China?
Ever since living there a few years back, I keep saying how your two countries are so fucking similar, and it getting truer every day.
The people in the US had the chance to vote for a MUCH lesser evil. And they chose to vote for fascism. People get the politics they deserve and with trump at least the leader is as rotten as the country at its core. I'm sure this poor lady does not deserve it. May maga folks experience some of the worst years of their lives for condoning racism, sexism, fascism.
This is the very definition of terrorism:
"Terrorism is the calculated use of violence to create fear and achieve political goals, often targeting civilians...."
Maybe we need to start a fund to reward any bystanders that attempt to intervene in a safe manner. They could do things like ask for badge numbers, take videos, ask for the warrant, and just generally get in the way. Maybe stand infront of the vehicle that the person is put in to slow down the progress.
Maybe we need a app that will notify people that something is happening so they can flood the area even more with people who will stand in front of the vehicle.
Meanwhile Rubio is proudly bragging about revoking student visas entirely for pro-Palestinian speech. Marco Rubio is not the voice of reason in the white house, he's an enemy of the Constitution.
Wtf I thought it was news overblown at first I can't fucking believe the US government is doing this in middle of the day, can't they Atleast try to disguise it as criminal activity?
So... What happens if there aren't cameras where the political abduction occurs? The government can just wait a few weeks then sell them to El Salvador and let their friends and family believe they are missing?
Makes me wonder if it would be a good idea to take down my "Hate has no home here" flag, that is prominently displayed in my yard.
We live in a very diverse neighborhood, and I'm happy to have this flag up. But I don't need any billy-jackoffs coming around causing a fuss, or worse.
What is the coverage of this in traditional is like? I know they most likely will ignore it while talking about the leak but this is a blunt attack on democracy.
Makes me think if they're going after citizens if this gets normalized. Although I'm not sure what they can do if you're a citizen, since they can't deport you, unless they make some sort of terrorist claim and send you to El Salvador maybe?
Just a hunch but these people don't move like cops... Not sure why I think that. Spidey senses. What if they're some kind of private contractors, not cops or military (though maybe ex), like a private "hit squad" since I have no better word for it
I do have to wonder, in a country with the first and second amendment, why one applies to people physically in the USA and the other does not. Seems like a lawyer would have to talk bullshit for hours to justify that,