Tufts Democrats and Voters of Tomorrow Boston held an event Tuesday evening, bringing students together to directly call elected officials to demand support for Rumeysa Öztürk, a graduate student who was detained on March 25. Apart from this event, students and other supporters have taken several paths to advocate for her release, from participating in protests to signing petitions to donating money to her legal fund.
Around 30 students attended the event to call Massachusetts legislators, the Massachusetts attorney general and U.S. agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security about Öztürk’s detainment. Callers were also encouraged to call elected officials from their home states if they lived outside of Massachusetts.
Students were urged to ask both local and statewide legislators in Massachusetts to co-sponsor the Safe Communities Act, “which would limit federal and local authorities from coordinating against immigrants and protect immigrants’ rights.” The Safe Communities Act in Massachusetts has gained interest since President Donald Trump’s reelection because it prohibits questioning from state officials about immigration status, requires written consent before ICE interviews and makes the court system more accessible. The act has failed to pass in four past legislative sessions.
For calling Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, students were given talking points to discuss Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s claims about Öztürk supporting Hamas, the subsequent lack of charges against her for these claims and how the lack of charges violated Öztürk’s freedom of speech. They were calling for Campbell “to sue the federal government to stop Rumeysa’s detention.”
Students were asked to get answers from the aforementioned U.S. agencies that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other members of Congress questioned in a letter on Thursday.
“It’s still not clear why Rumeysa was arrested, why she was taken to Louisiana, why she didn’t have access to her attorney, and if her constitutional rights were violated,” the script given to students reads. “DHS/ICE/State must answer these questions.”
This call event took place on Tuesday night, starting at 7:30 p.m., after office hours for most offices of elected officials. Organizers said that, while elected officials and their staff may be out of office for the evening, they will be faced with “a litany of messages to fill up their message banks” in the morning.
Grant Pinsley, founder of the Boston chapter of Voters of Tomorrow, said during a presentation at the event. “If you want to call during office hours … to actually have a chance of speaking with someone, you can do so. Usually, someone might pick up.”
In an interview with the Daily, Pinsley discussed the impact that making these calls can have.
“There’s a lot of ways to make change that we don’t fully understand or know about yet,” he said. “Massachusetts has hundreds of thousands of students, and many thousands of them are international students that really need protection in this moment. So I think putting pressure to pass [the Safe Communities Act] is really necessary.”
Reese Christian, the director of operations for Tufts Democrats, emphasized that while protests are a great form of activism, calling elected officials is another way to take action.
“A lot of this kind of organizing and electoral side of things, I think people have lost a lot of confidence in, especially after the last election,” Christian said. “Emboldening the people who are still in power, in Congress, on the state level, at the federal level, to step in where their jurisdiction still applies is really important.”
Both the Voters of Tomorrow Boston and the Tufts Democrats want to hold events in the future to support Öztürk as they learn information about her detainment and as her case progresses.
“I certainly believe in acting until she comes back to Tufts,” Pinsley said. “And you know, as we gain more information, we’ll be able to really act further and continue to organize.”
“When it’s things like this that directly pertain to the Tufts community, we find that it’s a little easier to mobilize people around that. So I think those opportunities as they come can be good to jump on,” Christian said.
Pinsley emphasized that calling elected officials about Öztürk’s detainment or any other issue should not be exclusive to organized events and that the presentation he gave should act as a general guideline for action.
“Anyone can call their legislator. Anyone can call these agencies, these offices. And people should. Get involved, learn and figure out what you think is the best way to get involved and start acting,” Pinsley said. “Kind of an asterisk to that is also if you are uncomfortable with that, especially if you’re an international student, prioritize your safety first.”
