ICE is reportedly violating detained Tufts student’s right to medical care

In the 10 days since Tufts University PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, her lawyers say their client has had three asthma attacks. During that time, according to three Democratic legislators and Öztürk’s lawyers, ICE has not provided the student her inhaler or other medication as required by law. (ICE did not return a request for comment.)

Like other students detained on suspicion of involvement in pro-Palestine activity, Öztürk has not been charged with or accused of any crime. Instead, Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary of public affairs, claimed Öztürk—who is a Fulbright scholar originally from Turkey—“engaged in activities in support of Hamas.” This, according to Öztürk’s friends and lawyers, strains credibility. Her lawyers say Öztürk is likely being targeted based on an op-ed she co-wrote a year ago, encouraging Tufts to divest from Israel.

Öztürk, who studies child psychology, was moved by ICE agents from Massachusetts to Vermont and then to Louisiana, her attorneys report. For nearly 24 hours, her legal team was unable to contact or locate her. En route to Louisiana, she suffered her first of three asthma attacks. Hearings in Öztürk’s case began yesterday, with her lawyers describing the way she was transported across several state lines as “venue shopping” by the government and “an act of either furtiveness or bad faith.” They also revealed that in the days since being moved to a detention center in Louisiana, Öztürk has suffered two more asthma attacks. 

Unmanaged asthma can have severe acute outcomes, the most extreme being respiratory failure resulting in death, as well as long-term effects, such as permanently altering a person’s airways. The way to avoid these devastating effects is simple: People with asthma need to have access to their medication, like inhalers, to manage this chronic health condition.

ICE claims to follow Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which would require Öztürk to have the same access to medical care as everyone else. Denying Öztürk her medication could potentially impede her disability civil rights, and failures to provide ICE detainees access to care have been the subject of complaints under Section 504 in the past. 

In an amended lawsuit filed Wednesday, Öztürk’s lawyers said that due to her not having access to her medications, “each day Ms. Öztürk remains in detention puts her life at risk.” Due to crowding in ICE detention facilities, Öztürk is arguably also at increased risk of catching Covid-19, which could exacerbate her existing respiratory problems.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), whose district includes the Somerville street where Öztürk was abducted, posted on social media Thursday night that ICE’s reported failure to provide Öztürk with her medication is “a violation of her fundamental right to medical care.”

“This is cruelty, it is neglect, and it is a damning moral and legal failure,” Pressley wrote.

In a statement with Massachusetts Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, Pressley demanded that the Department of Homeland Security “immediately provide Rümeysa with access to the health care that she needs,” provide compelling evidence as to why she was detained in the first place, and, absent that evidence, release her and restore her visa. 

“Every minute she remains in custody is another minute her health and rights are at risk,” the legislators said.