Turkish Tufts University student says was scared when surrounded, now in custody in crowded cell

medford (us): a tufts university doctoral student from turkiye detained by immigration officials said she was talking to her mother on her phone at the time shortly after she left her massachusetts home when she was surrounded by several men, and “i screamed.” rumeysa ozturk, 30, who has since been moved to an immigration and customs enforcement detention centre in basile, louisiana, provided an updated account of what happened to her as she walked along a street on march 25, in a document filed by her lawyers in federal court thursday. ozturk is among several people with ties to american universities who attended demonstrations or publicly expressed support for palestinians during the war in gaza and who recently had visas revoked or been stopped from entering the us.'i felt very scared and concerned'“i felt very scared and concerned as the men surrounded me and grabbed my phone from me,” ozturk said in the statement. they told her they were police, and one quickly showed what might have been a gold badge. “but i didn't think they were the police because i had never seen police approach and take someone away like this.” ozturk said she was afraid because her name, photograph and work history were published earlier this year on the website canary mission, which describes itself as documenting people who “promote hatred of the usa, israel and jews on north american college campuses.” she said the men didn't tell her why they were arresting her and shackled her. she said at one point, after they had changed cars, she felt “sure they were going to kill me.” during a stop in massachusetts, one of the men said to her, “we are not monsters,” and “we do what the government tells us.” she said they repeatedly refused her requests to speak to a lawyer. a petition to release her was first filed in federal court in boston and then moved to burlington, vermont, where a hearing on her case to resolve jurisdictional issues is scheduled on monday. ozturk's lawyers say detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process. they have asked that she be released from custody. us justice department lawyers say her case in new england should be dismissed and that it should be handled in immigration court.