For Rümeysa

defendingladyliber
Apr 5
13 min read

Updated: Apr 6

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

First They Came

By Pastor Martin Niemöller, former Nazi party member and concentration camp survivor

Parable of Totalitarian Gradualism

Totalitarian Gradualism is the cunningest of thieves. He is a honey-tongued master illusionist who can convince even a mighty nation to willingly devour itself to dust without even noticing it. He starts his work in the shadows at the very periphery of awareness. He takes but a few pebbles of liberties; ones the majority will hardly miss and that are easy to vilify, those of ‘criminals’, ‘immigrants’, ‘minorities’, ‘non-conforming identities’, and other defects of society. In exchange, he offers the populous lofty promises such as greater “national security” or “economic prosperity”. They willingly accept, signing on the dotted line without giving it much thought or care. Those they strip naked of their liberties are so insignificant, almost subhuman to them that they do not even recall who this dark-cladded phantom was or that they even struck a bargain with him.

He comes back a second time. This time it is for the liberties of people that they only vaguely know. Friends of friends of friends. They are still amorphous blobs, not real people. They are the lesser “them.” Only hollow names he whispers in their ears as they willingly hand over the pebbles he seeks in exchange for yet more promises of a better nation. After all, he tells them, what is the small cost of the liberties of a few in exchange for the promise of greatness for many?

The third time he returns, the people see him coming. Some start to suspect he has ill intent. However, he assuages their fears with more promises of greatness. All he asks for now are the liberties of their friends and family. At this, the inner consciences of all but his most loyal followers thrash in terror and scream not to drop the pebbles in his hand. Their protestations are to no avail as they load into the trains the liberties of those he asks for; because they know to not do so would force them to admit the dark truth: that they have been complicit in his schemes that robbed innocent men, women, and children of their life, liberty, and happiness. Those unalienable rights they pledged to protect.

The last time he comes, the remaining crowd, now dwindled and broken, are ready to meet him. Weeping, they place the last pebbles in his hand. He laughs in wicked delight as the last free people turn around to see their once mighty democracy reduced to dust, one pebble at a time, willingly handed over.

On March 9, Rümeysa Ӧztürk, a Turkish doctoral student studying Child and Human Development at Tufts University, was arrested by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE stated that she was “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans...”(1) On March 27, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio provided justification for the arrest by claiming that Rümeysa was involved in violent protests.(2) He went on to say, “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa.”(2) Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor Rubio has provided any evidence that Rümeysa, this "lunatic", has supported Hamas or participated in violent protests.

He slowly slinks in under the cloak of darkness…taking a few small pebbles from our mighty nation, willingly given without thought or care by the majority…He leaves with a smile, for he knows it has begun…

I took it upon myself to see if I could find any evidence of the crimes for which she is accused. I spent hours searching the internet for any evidence that Rümeysa was involved in either of those activities. I did not find any. All I found was that on March 26, 2024 she, along with three other authors, published an op-ed piece in The Tufts Daily, the school newspaper.(3) The op-ed called for the president of Tufts University to adopt the Tufts Community Union Senate’s (the undergraduate student government) resolutions that “[c]redible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide.” I encourage you to read the op-ed. It does not include any antisemitism. It does not include calls for or the celebration of violence. It is merely four persons peacefully expressing their opinions on the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Of course, I was not able to find and evaluate all of the records on the internet related to Rümeysa. So I turned to the new Oracle of the Internet: ChatGPT. I asked it to search its vast database of over a trillion words/data points to answer the following questions:

Prompt: Is there any evidence that Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, has provided support for Hamas? If so, please provide that evidence.

Response: “As of now, no concrete evidence has been made public to substantiate the claim that Ozturk provided support to Hamas.”

Prompt: Is there any evidence that Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, has participated in or supported violent protests? If so, please provide that evidence.

Response: “As of now, no concrete evidence has been made public to substantiate claims that Ozturk participated in or supported violent protests.”

Prompt: Has Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, been officially charged with a crime?

Response: “As of April 1, 2025, there is no publicly available information indicating that Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, has been officially charged with any crime.”

Prompt: Summarize the character of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, based on the comments of people who know her.

Response: “These accounts collectively portray Ozturk as a peaceful individual whose activism was primarily expressed through written advocacy rather than direct action.”

Here is what we know summarizing all of the information available:

A young woman legally studying in our nation was detained by our government without charging her with a crime. They publicly accused her of violent behaviors and supporting a terrorist organization without offering any evidence to substantiate those claims. A thorough search of hundreds of petabytes of online data found no evidence or pattern of behavior commensurate with the crimes for which she has been accused. It appears her only “crime” was peacefully sharing a political opinion that our president and his government disagree with. And for that, she is and continues to be imprisoned. In addition, the Trump Administration tried to deport her before she was given due process. Thankfully, the Judiciary stepped in and prevented them from doing so.

“Ah, yessss…”, he whispers. “immigrants, they are the easiest pebbles to collect…I learned that many times before…”

This should outrage us all. The Trump Administration forcefully stripped Rümeysa of her liberty in violation of the U.S. Constitution. If she has committed a crime, the Trump Administration should formally charge her of those crimes, provide evidence of them, and uphold her constitutional rights to defend herself.

This is not supposed to happen in the United States of America. This is the behavior of third-world totalitarian regimes. Alarmingly, this is not an isolated incident. The Trump Administration has arrested, imprisoned, and/or deported hundreds of people in violation of their constitutional rights.(4,5) How many innocent people will disappear into black holes at the hands of our government before society takes notice? Are their lives so meaningless?

Here is another example of the growing totalitarianism in our country that echoes what occurred in Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany. On March 12, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was arrested while on the way to pick up his 5-year old son. His wife, a U.S. citizen who believed in the foundations of justice in our country, told him not to worry that “...he would come back home because he hadn’t done anything wrong.”(4) His has not been home since.

The Trump Administration accused him of being a gang member without providing any evidence. Kilmar repeatedly denied being part of a gang and shared that he fled to the U.S. because he was being persecuted by that same gang. This surely would come up during his deportation hearing. However, that day never came.

The Trump Administration apparently did not feel it should be burdened by the rule of law. It deported Kilmar to the most infamous prison in El Salvador, ignoring a court order that specifically prevented the U.S. government from deporting him to El Salvador. This was not the first time Trump disregarded the rule of law in the name of “Making America Great Again.” In March, he deported 200 Venezuelan immigrants to the same El Salvador prison in defiance of a judge’s order blocking him from doing so.(5) Once it became known that Trump violated the court order, the El Salvadoran president, whom the Trump Administration has reportedly paid $6 million to take the prisoners, commented "Oopsie... Too late…"(5) This is what totalitarianism looks like.

On April 1, the Trump Administration admitted that Kilmar was deported and sent to a third-world prison based on a clerical mistake.(6) Had he been given his constitutional right of due process this would never have happened. This is exactly why our founders created the 5th Amendment; so our government cannot capriciously and without cause deprive someone of their liberties.

Surely, once the Trump Administration realized it had made a mistake, it would do everything it could to get him released? Instead, it did the exact opposite. Rather than doing the just and moral thing, the Trump Administration argued in court that it was not its obligation to get Kilmar released. On April 4, a judge ruled against the Trump Administration, stating, “This was an illegal act…Congress said you can’t do it, and you did it anyway.” It ordered the Trump Administration to secure Kilmar’s release by 11:59 p.m. on April 7.(7,8)

Once again the Trump Administration had the opportunity to right its wrong. Instead, it decided to appeal the judge’s decision. They claim they cannot secure Kilmar’s release because he is now in the possession of the El Salvadoran government, which they have no influence over. Let this sink in:

Trump feels he has the power to unleash a tariff nuclear bomb against even our closest allies, invade the sovereign nations of Panama and Greenland/Denmark to get their resources, try to subjugate our neighbor and ally to become our 51st state against their will, and forcefully deport millions of people from their homes against international law and basic morality in order to create “the Riviera of the Middle East”. But now, he claims that he does not have the power to get a single person released from El Salvador --someone he sent there. We all know he has the power. He just chooses not to wield it because apparently Kilmer is less than human to him. He is nothing more than a clerical error.

A clerical error…one more pebble freely given…

As of this writing, Kilmar’s son still waits for his dad to come home. Has Kilmar been beaten by the gang he feared? Has he been raped? Is his unalienable right of liberty worth nothing? Kilmer seems to be so meaningless to the Trump Administration, a piece of garbage happily thrown in the gutter and spat on, that they are not even trying to get him--a person whom Trump unlawfully imprisoned--released.

This is not what our nation is about. Rümeysa and Kilmar are human beings. If they have committed a crime, charge them and uphold their constitutional right to defend themselves.

Trump is not above the law. Either he has never read our Constitution or worse he has read it with as much reverence as a weekly coupon mailer that he tosses in the bin. Let me remind him that the Fifth Amendment states: “No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”(8) In short, the government cannot take a person’s life, liberty, or property without following a fair and lawful process. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld that this protection extends beyond U.S. citizens. In Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U.S. 67 (1976), Supreme Court Justice Stevens wrote the opinion of the unanimous court, stating:

“There are literally millions of aliens within the jurisdiction of the United States. The Fifth Amendment, as well as the Fourteenth Amendment, protects every one of these persons from deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Wong Yang Sung v. McGrath, 339 U. S. 33, 339 U. S. 48-51; Wong Wing v. United States, 163 U. S. 228, 163 U. S. 238; see Russian Fleet v. United States, 282 U. S. 481, 282 U. S. 489. Even one whose presence in this country is unlawful, involuntary, or transitory is entitled to that constitutional protection. Wong Yang Sung, supra; Wong Wing, supra.” (9)

The words and actions of the Supreme Court espouse those that made America the beacon of democracy across the world. The U.S. Constitution is the soul of our country. The Bill of Rights is its heartbeat. Trump acts as if he should not be burdened by the hallowed and yellowed documents that are enshrined mere blocks from the White House. On the contrary, it is exactly times like these that our founders sought to protect us against when they created the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Now it is up to us, We the People, the mightiest and unbreakable branch of government, to fight with all of our strength to protect all persons’ right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness against the Tyranny before us.

He sees that some are starting to suspect the deal he has struck…No matter…they are the minority…the majority will keep up their bargain…soon, very soon, the trains will come and remove those troublesome pebbles…

It is easy to ignore the plight of people like Rümeysa and Kilmar who are different from us. They come from different countries. Their names are hard to pronounce. She wears a scarf. He is an immigrant. She may be a Muslim and he may not be fluent in English. Both may have political beliefs that we do not agree with. It is human nature for us to have less empathy for those who are not like us. We are the “us.” They are the “them.” Because of that, I ask you to replace their faces with that of someone you love: your daughter, son, grandchild, partner, or close friend.

Hold their image in your mind. Now imagine she is studying abroad. You are on the phone talking to her when she frantically tells you that a group of masked men are approaching her (Rümeysa was on the phone with her mom when 6 officers in dark clothing and masks surrounded her - all caught on video[10]). The phone goes silent. Panic-stricken, you have no idea what happened to her.

An excruciating 24 hours later you find out that she has been detained (ICE did not inform anyone of Rümeysa’s status or whereabouts for 24 hours after her arrest). You find out she was arrested because she “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” You are astounded by the charges because you know her to be a peaceful, caring person. You ask for evidence of the charges.

They offer you none.

The immigration office of the country where she was studying tells you they are going to deport her for her alleged crimes. You ask for evidence of the charges.

They offer you none.

The country’s Secretary of State goes on television and accuses her of inciting violent protests. You are shocked because you know her to be a nonviolent person (this is how her mother, friends, colleagues, and professors describe Rümeysa [1,11]). You ask for evidence to support those claims.

They offer you none.

You ask them for details on what will happen to her.

They offer you none.

The face I pictured is that of my daughter. She is politically active but peaceful and nonviolent. What prevents the Trump Administration from arresting her for writing an op-ed on a subject that Trump disagrees with? Do I need to worry that someday government agents in black clothing and masks will come for her?

I would have never even imagined this was possible two months ago. My guess is that neither Rümeysa nor Kilmar could have imagined what happened to them. If Trump is willingly permitted by his own party and sycophants to brazenly disregard the constitutional rights of one group–twice defying court orders to protect their liberties–what is to stop him from depriving the life and liberties of anyone who disagrees with him? What is to stop him from reducing our nation to dust, one pebble at a time?

There is one and only one answer: We the People. We have always been and always will be our nation’s first and last line of defense. We must not forget the words of John Adams in response to the last tyrant that threatened our nation:

“...Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.”(12)

We must heed his words to protect our nation from the Tyranny of our time. We must take action to protect Rümeysa. To protect Kilmar. To protect our daughters, sons, spouses, and grandchildren. We must stand up now before there is nothing left of our nation but dust and regrets.

Some of you reading this may dismiss my words by reducing me to a label–“a progressive”, “a liberal”, “an alarmist”– that makes it easy to push aside the grave warnings I am raising. I do not take offense to that, even though those labels may not be true. However, I ask two things in return. The first is that you are as critical and doubtful of Trump’s words, actions, and motivations as you are of mine. Secondly, I ask that you do not disregard my informed opinion based on your assumptions about my ideology or motivations without first reviewing all of the available evidence.

In closing, I pray that I do not write these words four years from now:

First they came for the illegal immigrants

And I did not speak out

Because I am not an illegal immigrant

Then they came for legal international students

And I did not speak out

Because I am not an international student

Then they came for the Democrats

And I did not speak out

Because I am not a Democrat

Then they came for the Judges

And I did not speak out