Unsealed memo shows US had no evidence beyond op-ed against Turkish student before visa revocation

​​​​​​​By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - An unsealed State Department memo revealed US officials had no evidence against a Turkish Tufts University scholar beyond an article she co-authored for a student magazine, even as officials moved to revoke her student visa.

The internal memo, dated March 21, 2025, and unsealed Thursday by a federal judge, states that the Department of Homeland Security referred Ozturk for visa revocation after she co-authored an opinion piece in the Tufts student newspaper, criticizing the school’s response to Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.

The document acknowledges, however, that Homeland Security “has not … provided any evidence showing that OZTURK has engaged in any antisemitic activity or made any public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization.”

It shows that the agency referenced the articles’ mention of pro-Palestine student groups, including Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (TSJP), which US authorities had placed on interim suspension, and “urged members of the Tufts community to join the student intifada.”

According to the document, Homeland Security concluded that “these activities and associations with these groups may undermine U.S. foreign policy.”

Despite the lack of terror-related derogatory information, the memo recommended revoking Ozturk’s F-1 visa under discretionary authority, citing “the totality of the circumstances.”

The memo said the revocation was to be carried out quietly, without notifying Ozturk, due to “ongoing ICE operational security.”

Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and PhD student in child development, was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents who surrounded her outside her Somerville, Massachusetts home on March 25, 2025, which was captured in a viral video.

She was then transferred to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana, where she spent six weeks before a federal judge in Vermont ordered her release on May 9, citing her asthma and the lack of justification for her continued detention.

Denise Casper, a US district judge for Massachusetts, ordered the Trump administration last month to restore Ozturk’s SEVIS student record, ruling that authorities likely acted unlawfully when they terminated her status.

Ozturk was among several international students targeted in the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestine campus activists.

The memos, part of the hundreds of pages submitted as evidence in a Massachusetts trial in July, also reveal the detention of pro-Palestine students Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, primarily for their participation in campus protests and public writings and speeches.

The Trump administration has alleged that Ozturk, Khalil and Mahdawi engaged in activities supporting the Palestinian group, Hamas, but has not presented evidence to substantiate the claims.

The New York Times reported Thursday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally approved the deportation of five activist students, including Ozturk, Khalil and Mahdawi, after receiving the memos chiefly on their pro-Palestinian activities.

The internal government documents showed that the State Department received several batches of memos prepared by the Department of Homeland Security, recommending the deportation of the five students.

* Kanyshai Butun contributed to this report from Istanbul