John,
On March 25, federal agents carried out a previously unthinkable assault on basic freedoms. On her way to meet friends after a 13-hour Ramadan fast, 30-year-old Tufts University Ph.D. student Rumeysa Ozturk was abducted on a street near her home in broad daylight. Masked, plain-clothed federal officers surrounded her, took her phone and backpack, forcibly handcuffed her, and forced her into an unmarked SUV.
There was no warrant. No due process. No chance to contact a lawyer. She was taken to an undisclosed location, and held incommunicado for over 24 hours while her frantic lawyers checked local hospitals to try to find her. If security cameras hadn’t captured the arrest, the world might never have known it happened.
Her so-called “crime”? Writing an op-ed in a student newspaper -- over a year ago -- calling for Tufts University to divest from companies with ties to Israel because of the war in Gaza. She did not advocate violence. She called for nonviolent protest, exercising the essential right to free speech protected by the Constitution.
But the Trump administration, eager to crush dissent, saw an opportunity to make an example of her. They revoked her visa, and she remains in federal custody, facing imminent deportation.
This is not just an attack on one student -- it’s an attack on the core freedoms that define America.
Watch the chilling footage of her arrest, then sign the petition to demand her release.
This is the playbook of authoritarian regimes. But it’s happening here, now.
We never imagined we would see the U.S. government abduct political dissidents in full-on dictator style, disappearing them without legal protections, without trial, without even a phone call. Yet this is exactly what happened -- on a quiet suburban street in Somerville, Massachusetts.
And Republicans are bragging about it.
Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio openly defended this blatant violation of free speech -- not just the politically motivated arrest, but the brutal way it was carried out. He even took credit for it, boasting to a reporter:
"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."
This is authoritarianism in action -- an American university student being detained, defamed, and expelled simply for expressing an opinion the government doesn’t like. If we don’t stand up now, it won’t be the last time a student, journalist, or activist is kidnapped for daring to speak out.
Watch the shocking CCTV footage and sign your name to demand Ozturk’s release.
Thank you for standing up for free speech, due process, and the fundamental rights that make us Americans.
- DFA AF Team
