"But always…there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always…there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face…." --“1984” by George Orwell
At first I could not bring myself to watch the video of Tufts University PhD student Rumeya Ozturk being arrested by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on a neighborhood Somerville street, in the late afternoon, of Tuesday, March 25th. Unbeknownst to those ICE officers, the shocking encounter was captured in all its frightening reality by a nearby doorbell camera.
I just could not view images of someone being snatched off the street and then quickly taken away, for imprisonment. With no courtroom hearing to state her case. No chance to consult a lawyer or talk to a judge. Not even a merciful moment to say goodbye to her friends.
But finally, I did watch, and it made me sick to my stomach. Made me wonder if what I was viewing was from present day America, or perhaps Germany in 1933, or Moscow or Beijing in 2025. Places and times where folks were and are regularly picked up off the street and spirited away, maybe never to be heard from again.
In the video, Ozturk walks down the street on her way to share a meal with fellow Muslim friends, who are meeting to break their daylong fast. Ramadan is the Islamic holy month when devout Muslims fast from sunup to sundown as a religious practice, to deepen their connection to God. But Ozturk’s journey was quickly interrupted by six ICE agents who swooped down, surrounded her, in their dark clothes and mask clad faces, and then handcuffed her and lead her away, as her cries of protest and fear rang out.
It all happened in less than one minute. Ozturk is a Turkish national who is in the United States legally with an F-1 student visa. Within hours she was flown to a detention center in southern Louisiana. Her “crime”?
At first that was not clear. ICE stonewalled all inquiries. Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar, is at Tufts studying psychology and working on her doctoral dissertation. She was one of four co-signers of a student newspaper opinion piece in early March 2024 that advocates for the university to divest from investments and actions that benefit Israel and its war against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Finally, Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained the rationale behind the arrest of Ozturk and scores of other student foreign nationals. “If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us the reason you are 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, creating a ruckus….Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa."
It’s ironic to note Rubio’s family fled an authoritarian Cuban regime to come to the United States, for freedom and the right to speak up and confront countries like Cuba where rulers rule with intimidation, fear, and violence. Ozturk’s detention increasingly feels like the norm when it comes to how our present government handles any foreigner who dares to protest, advocate, or work for any cause that angers the powers that be.
Did or does Ozturk directly support and advocate for the terrorist work of Hamas? So far, no proof to that effect has been produced. Like many, I believe it is legitimate to deport any guest of the United States who advocates for terrorism or violence against any country or people. But is it now a punishable offense to just speak up and out? To protest peacefully? To offer a narrative that challenges the storyline being pushed by the current United States regime?
Apparently, yes.
If that is the case in our country, then I fear we will be seeing more and more images of immigrants and non-citizens being taken away, without any legal process, by anonymous, faceless, government functionaries. As a person of faith that worries me. What other “crimes” might evoke such a swift government response? The religion you practice? Will that get you in trouble now? The innocent people you shelter because of your religious conviction. Is that up for suspicion? Will one day someone like me get in trouble because I dare to put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard and criticize the current administration, and its cruel policies?
As a citizen, as a child of God, as a believer in fundamental civil and human rights, Ozturk’s arrest makes me wonder and worry if anyone is really safe anymore. And that is heartbreaking. Frightening too.
Just watch the video.
The Reverend John F. Hudson is Senior Pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn, Massachusetts (pilgrimsherborn.org). He blogs at sherbornpastor.blogspot.com and is a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. For twenty-five years he was a columnist whose essays appeared in newspapers throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He has served churches in New England since 1989. For comments, please be in touch: pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org.