The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics are facing renewed scrutiny after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained a Tufts University PhD student in Massachusetts and a farmworker organizer in Washington state in what witnesses and advocates have described as abduction-style arrests.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright Scholar and Turkish national studying child development, was ambushed by masked ICE agents in an unmarked car while leaving her home in Somerville. Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, an Indigenous Mixteco farmworker and labor organizer, was violently detained while dropping off his partner at work. Both were taken to ICE facilities without warning, a warrant, or access to legal counsel, triggering widespread condemnation from civil rights groups, labor unions, and elected officials.
Ozturk was detained Tuesday evening as she left her home to attend an Iftar dinner.
“It looked like a kidnapping,” said Michael Mathis, a neighbor whose surveillance camera captured the arrest. “They approach her and start grabbing her with their faces covered. They’re covering their faces. They’re in unmarked vehicles.”
According to her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk was:
• Surveilled by unmarked vehicles outside her home for two days before the arrest.
• Handcuffed and forced into an unmarked car by officers who refused to show a warrant or identify themselves.
• Transferred to an ICE detention center in Louisiana despite a judge’s order barring her removal from Massachusetts.
Tufts University President Sunil Kumar stated that the school had no prior knowledge of the arrest:
“We received reports that an international graduate student was taken into custody this evening by federal authorities outside an off-campus apartment building in Somerville. The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event.”
Ozturk’s detention has fueled speculation that she was targeted for her political views. She co-authored a March 2024 op-ed in The Tufts Daily criticizing the university’s response to pro-Palestinian activism.
Shortly after the article’s publication, her name and photo appeared on Canary Mission, a website known for doxxing pro-Palestinian activists.
Democratic Representative Ayanna Pressley condemned the detention, stating:
“She must be immediately released. We won’t stand by while the Trump administration continues to abduct students with legal status and attack our fundamental freedoms.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell called the video of Ozturk’s arrest “disturbing,” adding, “Based on what we now know, it is alarming that the federal administration chose to ambush and detain her, apparently targeting a law-abiding individual because of her political views.”
On the same night Ozturk was detained, ICE agents broke the car window of Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino and forcibly removed him from the vehicle.
Juarez, a longtime farmworker organizer, was dropping off his partner at work when the arrest occurred.
• ICE refused to identify themselves, according to witnesses.
• No warrant was presented before Juarez was seized.
• He was taken to an unmarked ICE facility in Ferndale, Washington, the same facility he had helped expose months earlier.
Farmworker advocacy group Community to Community Development condemned the arrest, stating, “We feel this is a targeted attack on farmworker leadership, and we must not allow this to continue.”
Juarez’s arrest has drawn sharp criticism from labor unions. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) 3000 released a statement condemning the incident:
“We’re furious over these credible reports of immigration enforcement violently detaining Alfredo ‘Lelo’ Juarez Zeferino, a longtime labor leader who fought for farmworkers and immigrant rights. By targeting workers like Lelo—and, reportedly, a union lab tech at the University of Washington—the Trump administration clearly aims to terrorize immigrant workers.”
Union members immediately mobilized, staging a protest at the Ferndale facility where Juarez was held.
Federal judge demands explanation for Ozturk’s detention
A lawsuit has been filed to block Ozturk’s deportation. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ordered ICE to provide a legal justification for her arrest by Friday and to notify the court before moving her out of Massachusetts.
Despite this, Ozturk was already transferred to a remote ICE facility in Louisiana, in direct violation of the judge’s order.
Demonstrations in Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. have drawn hundreds of activists demanding Ozturk and Juarez’s release.
• Protesters in Boston chanted, “Free Rumeysa Ozturk now!”
• Labor organizers in Washington rallied with signs reading, “Hands off our workers!”
• The Turkish Embassy confirmed it is “keeping in regular contact with Ozturk’s family” and is actively engaged in discussions with U.S. officials.
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