'Gave You Visa To Study Not To..': US After Revoking Visa Of Turkish Student
The remark from US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio came in response to an incident involving an international graduate student at Tufts University, who was taken into federal custody outside an off-campus apartment building.
The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio has cited engagement in activities beyond scope of student visa as a reason for the visa cancellation of Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk.
Addressing a joint news conference with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali in Georgetown, Guyana, Rubio said, “We revoked her visa…We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses."
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He also added that US expects the students to abide by the visa rules. “If we’ve given you a visa and then you decide to do that, we’re going to take it away," he said.
The comment was made in response to an incident involving an international graduate student at Tufts University, who was taken into federal custody outside an off-campus apartment building. This was confirmed by the university’s president and the student’s attorney, as reported by The New York Times.
Rubio also mentioned that visas of over 300 students have been revoked as of now, and it is being done every day.
“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas. At some point, I hope we run out because we’ve gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up."
Rubio also confirmed that the State Department revoked Ozturk’s visa, however, he did not add more details to it.
Ozturk, a Fulbright Scholar in Tufts University’s doctoral program in Child Study and Human Development, had been studying in the US on an F-1 visa.
Her arrest occurred a year after she co-authored an opinion piece in the Tufts Daily, the university’s student newspaper, criticising the school’s response to student calls for divestment from companies linked to Israel and for the university to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide."
Following her arrest, her attorney filed a lawsuit, claiming her detention was unlawful. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Boston issued an order preventing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from moving Ozturk out of Massachusetts without giving 48 hours’ notice. However, in a filing on Thursday, the US Department of Justice stated that she was already in Louisiana, and that she had been detained outside Massachusetts at the time the lawsuit was filed, according to a report by The New York Times.
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