Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem on February 16, 2025.
EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/AFP via Getty Images
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EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration is intensifying penalties against students involved in protests related to the Gaza conflict, rescinding the visas of hundreds of suspected demonstrators.
“We provided you with a visa for education, not activism that disrupts our campuses,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated during a press briefing on Thursday, estimating that over 300 student visas have been canceled thus far.
“If we have granted you a visa and you choose to engage in such behavior, we will revoke it.”
Rubio’s statements follow reports of foreign students being detained in the United States due to their involvement in pro-Palestine rallies.
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This week, surveillance footage surfaced showing Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Öztürk being apprehended near her off-campus apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts, by federal agents.
Öztürk, who was on her way to meet friends for an Iftar dinner to break her Ramadan fast, was quickly approached by masked, plainclothes officers and taken into custody.
The visibly terrified Turkish-born PhD student raised her hands and screamed as the agents closed in on her and seized her phone.
“I know this seems intimidating,” one officer stated. “We’re the police.”
A bystander retorted, “Well, you don’t look like it. Why are you covering your faces?”
Öztürk, 30, is presently detained in a federal facility in Louisiana.
Last year, Öztürk co-authored an op-ed for the university’s publication criticizing the institution’s stance on the Gaza war and urging it to take action in holding Israel accountable for clear violations of international law.
Attorney Masha Khanbabai has not responded to an NPR request for comments.
In a letter to the Tufts community on Tuesday, university President Sunil Kumar expressed that the school had no prior indication Öztürk would be targeted for detention and had not provided any information to authorities about her before her arrest.
“We acknowledge how alarming and distressing this situation is for her, her family, and the broader Tufts community, especially among our international students, staff, and faculty who may be feeling vulnerable or unsettled by these occurrences,” Kumar wrote in a statement, describing the footage of Öztürk’s detention as “disturbing.”
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Somerville on Wednesday, demanding Öztürk’s release and condemning what they characterize as state-sanctioned kidnapping.
Rubio vowed that more of these arrests would take place, asserting that student activists threaten U.S. national security and, without presenting any evidence, accusing them of vandalizing university property.
“Every time I find one of these radicals, I revoke their visa,” he declared on Thursday.
“We are actively searching for these radicals that are causing damage.”
