Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish doctoral student from Tufts University, said she feared she was going to die when masked U.S. agents suddenly detained her without warning outside her Massachusetts home last month.
Öztürk described the March 25 arrest as "strange" in a court document submitted Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
"I thought this was a strange situation and was sure they were going to kill me," she wrote, adding that agents were "all wearing civilian clothes."
She noted that "this was a strange situation and was sure they were going to kill me."
Saying she was speaking to her mother on the phone when several men surrounded her, took her phone and ignored her repeated requests to know who they were.
Although one briefly showed a badge, she said it was too quick to read and offered no assurance.
"But I didn't think that they were the police because I had never seen police approach and take someone away like this," she wrote.
Öztürk was driven to multiple locations, including one where she said: "It was an isolated place with four men and it was terrifying."
She was later flown to a detention facility in the state of Louisiana, where she has experienced multiple asthma attacks and said she was denied proper medical treatment.
One episode struck during a layover at an airport in Atlanta, where she was unable to get her prescribed medication.
Conditions at the facility are "unsanitary, unsafe, and inhumane," she said, citing overcrowding, poor hygiene and verbal mistreatment.
Öztürk said a nurse tried to remove her headscarf without her consent during a medical check.
"She said 'you need to take that thing off your head' and took off my hejab (headscarf) without asking my permission. I told her you can't take off my hejab and she said this is for your health. After a few minutes I put my hejab back on. But they did nothing to treat my asthma and gave me a few ibuprofen," Öztürk stated.
Hoping to return to Tufts University to finish her studies, she said: "I only have about 9 months left to complete it and am very concerned about not being able to finish my studies."
"I pray every day for my release so I can go back to my home and community in Somerville," she added.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed that Öztürk's student F-1 visa had been revoked and defended her detention. Authorities claim she engaged in activities supporting the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, without providing evidence.
A viral video captured the moments Öztürk was detained, showing masked Department of Homeland Security agents handcuffing her and forcibly taking away her phone.
Öztürk's lawyers and supporters argue that she was detained for co-writing an op-ed in The Tufts Daily in March 2024 that criticized the university's handling of the pro-Palestinian movement.
Öztürk's detention comes amid the Trump administration's broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian students and academics, including the detention of Palestinian activist and recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil and Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri.
