U.S. crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters: Who has been detained or deported

American university affiliates detained by Trump administration for pro-Palestinian activism face deportation over alleged ties to Hamas.

People with ties to American universities, most of whom have shown support for pro-Palestinian causes, have been detained in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants.

President Donald Trump and other officials have accused protesters and others of being “pro-Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Many protesters have said they were speaking out against Israel’s actions in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

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Mr. Trump’s administration has cited a seldom-invoked statute authorising the Secretary of State to revoke visas of non citizens who could be considered a threat to foreign policy interests. More than half a dozen people are known to have been taken into custody or deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in recent weeks.

Federal officers detained 30-year-old Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk on Tuesday (March 25, 2025) as she walked along a street in suburban Boston. A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said without providing evidence that an investigation found Ms. Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University, “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” which is also a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

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Friends and colleagues of Ms. Ozturk said her only known activism was co-authoring an op-ed in a student newspaper that called on Tufts University to engage with student demands to cut ties with Israel. Ms. Ozturk has been taken to an ICE detention centre in Louisiana. A U.S. District judge in Massachusetts on Friday (March 28, 2025) said Ms. Ozturk can’t be deported to Turkiye without a court order and gave the government until Tuesday (April 1, 2025) evening to respond to an updated complaint filed by Ms. Ozturk’s attorneys.