Rubio defends revocation of Turkish PhD student's visa over Israel criticism

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday confirmed the revocation of the visa of Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk, and defended her arrest following her article criticizing Israel.

"We revoked her visa," Rubio told a news conference in Guyana, referring to Ozturk's F1 student visa. "We give you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses."

Rubio defended the decision, saying foreign students engaging in activism that disrupts university life would face similar consequences.

"If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason why you're coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings ... We're not going to give you a visa," he said.

"If you lie to us and get a visa and then enter the United States, and with that visa participate in that sort of activity, we're going to take away your visa," he added.

However, Rubio did not provide any evidence linking Ozturk to violence. Her friends and family say she was arrested following a campaign by Canary Mission, a pro-Israel website that blacklists pro-Palestine students and activists, stemming from an article she wrote criticizing Israel.

In 2024, Ozturk co-authored an op-ed for Tuft University's newspaper, The Tufts Daily, urging the school to acknowledge what she described as the Palestinian genocide and to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Ozturk, a Turkish Ph.D. student at Tufts University and Fulbright scholar, was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) late Tuesday near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts while heading to an iftar dinner to break her fast during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, according to her lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai.

She was taken into custody by masked federal agents in broad daylight, with authorities claiming she engaged in activities supporting the Palestinian group Hamas—an allegation her family and advocates strongly deny.

No charges have been filed against Ozturk, according to her lawyer. A viral video captured the moments of her detention, showing masked individuals handcuffing her and forcibly taking away her phone.

The ICE Locator website indicated that Ozturk was being held at a detention facility in Louisiana.