First They Came

In this image taken from security camera video, Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, is detained by Department of Homeland Security agents on a street in Sommerville, Mass., on March 26. The Associated Press

by Craig Wiesner - San Mateo Daily Journal - April 21, 2025

As a Jewish child growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust and the McCarthy era, the son of a union leader, and as a closeted young gay man who endured watching service members accused of being LGBTQ disappear from my units, German pastor Martin Niemöller’s poem “First They Came” has always resonated with me. As memorialized by the U.S. Holocaust Museum, it reads:

First 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 for me.

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, was on her way to dinner to break her Ramadan fast when she was surrounded by hooded people in what looked like a kidnapping. Her backpack and phone were forcibly taken and when a passerby tried to intervene, one of the hooded people said “we’re police.” The passerby responded “You don’t look like the police. Why are your faces covered?” Badges were flashed, the woman was handcuffed and rushed to a nearby unmarked vehicle. They were federal agents. Her alleged crime? Writing a student newspaper op-ed about the university’s response to student protests of the Hamas / Israel war (bit.ly/3RNtIIR). Lately, pro-Palestinian sentiment is being labeled, by some, as anti-semitism and supporting Hamas. The punishment for her op-ed: her student visa revoked and she was whisked off to a Louisiana jail, pending deportation.

Disturbing video of her arrest went viral (bit.ly/43TvD66). 27 Jewish organizations, perhaps with the First They Came poem in mind, filed an Amicus Brief, reading in part “Arresting, detaining, and potentially deporting Ozturk does not assist in eradicating antisemitism. Nor was that the government’s apparent purpose. The government instead appears to be exploiting Jewish Americans’ legitimate concerns about antisemitism as a pretext for undermining core pillars of American democracy, the rule of law, and the fundamental rights of free speech and academic debate on which this nation was built.”

Indeed. The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security are scouring social media and other communications to ferret out content they can use to deny entry to incoming visitors and arrest, jail, and deport those already here on various types of visas. As of March 31st, hundreds of student visas, including those of students at Stanford University, have been revoked.

Yes, our government has the right to revoke people’s visas and deport people but why should someone, who hasn’t been accused of any crime, be held in a jail cell hundreds of miles from where she was living? Why not give her notice of the revocation and an opportunity to appeal. While awaiting a decision an ankle monitor can prevent her from absconding. If her appeal fails, let her leave. There are planes going everywhere every day.

Could you ever imagine a 21st Century United States where writing an op-ed in a student newspaper got you placed in handcuffs and thrown in jail? Beyond Rumeysa Ozturk, there’s Kilmar Abrego, a man government lawyers admitted was mistakenly renditioned from Maryland to a Salvadoran “Terrorism Confinement Center.” Despite the Supreme Court saying our government should facilitate his return, he continues to be trapped there. Joining him is a gay Venezuelan baker, sent to that same jail because he had an Autism Awareness tattoo. How about the mom and three children taken from a farm in upstate New York and thrown into detention 1,800 miles away in Texas for ten days, only released after their community and governor intervened?

Rumeysa Ozturk, Kilmar Abrego, the gay baker, that mom and her three children didn’t pose any danger. They, like anyone with their feet on our soil, are protected by our constitution and have the right to due process. Yes, there are people who do present a danger to us, like convicted gang members, murderers, rapists, and other violent criminals. Our government has the right, and responsibility, to protect us from them, but it should do so while always upholding our constitution and affording everyone due process and judicial review.

First they came for a Turkish student, then the father seeking asylum and the gay baker, then a mom and her three kids… and the president said, on camera, that he wants to deport “homegrown” citizens too. Might my column offend him? Speak out now or…

Craig Wiesner is the co-owner of Reach And Teach, a book, toy and cultural gift shop on San Carlos Avenue in San Carlos. Follow Craig: craigwiesner.bsky.social.

NOTE: On May 9th Rumeysa Ozturk was released and was able to return to school while her case continues to play out.