A hijab-wearing student who was dramatically detained by ICE last month detailed the nightmarish conditions inside the infamous Louisiana immigration detention center she is being held at.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, who is from Turkey and currently studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts, was swarmed by a group of individuals near her off-campus home in March.
The US Department of Homeland Security has accused Ozturk of ‘engaging in activities in support of Hamas’, a Palestinian group recognized by the US government as a ‘foreign terrorist organization.’
Ozturk now says she’s been squeeze into a cell with 22 other people, even though it only has the capacity to hold 14, the Boston Globe reported.
No-one can sleep through the night, according to Ozturk – and she has not been provided with a prayer rug or Quran so she can practice her faith.
Officials revoked Ozturk’s visa and moved her to Louisiana – despite an order requiring agents not to move her out of Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice.
She is known to have signed an op-ed in a student newspaper calling for Tufts to brand Israel’s bombing of Gaza as a ‘genocide’ and for the college to divest from Israeli investments, but no further details of ‘Hamas-supporting activities’ have been shared.
The rural facility where Ozturk is now being held also housed several other migrants who were detained under the Trump administration’s round up of anti-Israel activists living in the United States under student visas including Mahmoud Khalil and Badar Khan Suri.
In recent court filings, Ozturk claimed her detention violates her constitutional rights and she has been living in horrible conditions.
Ozturk alleged once she was put in the Louisiana facility, she was not allowed to go outside during the first week and had limited access to food and supplies for two weeks.
‘When they do the inmate count we are threatened to not leave our beds or we will lose privileges, which means that we are often stuck waiting in our beds for hours,’ she said.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, detailed the hellish conditions inside the infamous Louisiana immigration detention center she is being held at
Ozturk, who is from Turkey and currently studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts , was swarmed by a group of individuals near her off-campus home in March
‘At mealtimes, there is so much anxiety because there is no schedule when it comes… They threaten to close the door if we don’t leave the room in time, meaning we won’t get a meal.’
‘I pray everyday for my release so I can go back to my home and community in Somerville,’ she said.
The Tufts student said she suffered multiple asthma attacks and had limited care at the medical center.
While waiting a ‘very long time’ to be taken to the medical center for treatment, Ozturk said, she was denied the ability to go outside for fresh air..
‘While waiting, I still couldn’t breathe well and was crying,’ she said. ‘They let me stand near the door to the outdoors to get a little fresh air.’
At the medical center, a nurse removed her hijab, telling her ‘you need to take that thing off your head.’
‘After a few minutes I put my hijab back on. But they did nothing to treat my asthma and gave me a few ibuprofen,’ she said
Ozturk alleged once she was put in the Louisiana facility, she was not allowed to go outside during the first week and had limited access to food and supplies
After that experience the Tufts student said she has been afraid to go back to the medical center.
‘I was in pain and very scared but I didn’t ask to go to the medical center because I don’t feel that they address my medical needs,’ she said.
Ozturk’s arrest came a year after she co-authored an opinion piece in Tufts’ student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to ‘acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.’
The op-ed added that the university’s response to the resolutions ‘has been wholly inadequate and dismissive of the Senate, the collective voice of the student body.’
Supporters of Ozturk say the Trump administration has yet to share any specific details of alleged support for Hamas and that the only incidents mentioned thus far were her expressing her free speech rights.
Ozturk’s arrest footage sparked backlash as video showed her being surrounded by six undercover ICE agents, who handcuffed her and took her into a vehicle as she walked to a meal with friends.