ICE Jailed a Student for an Op-Ed, Now She’s Left America

April 30, 2026 · 1h 23m

About this episode

The episode discusses the case of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University grad student detained by ICE for co-authoring an op-ed advocating for Palestinian rights, and the implications of her experience on freedom of speech and immigration policy in the U.S.

In recent days, we learned that Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University grad student who was snatched off the street by masked ICE agents last year and locked up for more than a month, has had enough of America, and moved home to Turkey. The U.S. government had continued to threaten her with legal proceedings and deportation, even after releasing her from detention.  Dr. Öztürk’s “crime?” Co-authoring an op-ed in the student newspaper advocating for Palestinian rights.  A year ago this week, while Rümeysa Öztürk was being held without charge in a Louisiana ICE facility and her case was drawing national condemnation, Question Everything co-hosted an urgent live event at Tufts with The Tufts Daily, which had published Dr. Öztürk’s op-ed. That episode has just received a Webby Award for Best News & Politics podcast episode . Student journalists Arghya Thallapragada and Ellora Onion-De and Question Everything host Brian Reed were joined by former editor-in-chief of the Washington Post and Boston Globe Marty Baron, First Amendment lawyer Robert Bertsche, one of Dr. Öztürk’s ACLU…

People in this episode

Host: Brian Reed

Guests: Arghya Thallapragada, Ellora Onion-De, Marty Baron, Robert Bertsche, Carol Rose, Akela Lacey

Topics covered

immigration
freedom of speech
political opinion
student rights
Palestinian rights
government accountability

Keywords

ICE
detention
op-ed
Palestinian rights
freedom of speech
Tufts University
Rümeysa Öztürk
government threats
deportation
student journalism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tufts University, The Tufts Daily