Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Investing

The Government Can’t Revoke a Visa Because of an Op-ed

by April 30, 2025
April 30, 2025
The Government Can’t Revoke a Visa Because of an Op-ed

Thomas A. Berry

Rumeysa Ozturk (Screenshot: as​.tufts​.edu)

Rumeysa Ozturk is a graduate student at Tufts University in Massachusetts. Ozturk is a Turkish citizen who was living in the United States on a student visa. On March 25, Ozturk was approached and surrounded by six plainclothes officers, stripped of her cellphone and backpack, handcuffed, and taken into custody in an unmarked vehicle. Unbeknownst to her, the United States had revoked her visa just days earlier. Ozturk was transferred to Vermont and then Louisiana, where she remains in custody.

A provision of federal immigration law grants the Secretary of State the authority to deport an alien if the secretary “has reasonable ground to believe” that the alien’s “presence or activities in the United States … would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” The government cited this provision in revoking Ozturk’s visa, without specifying why it believed her presence would have adverse foreign policy consequences.

Evidence indicates that Ozturk’s visa was revoked solely on the basis of an op-ed she co-authored for a student newspaper. That op-ed criticized the Tufts University administration for dismissing certain student government resolutions. The op-ed argued that these resolutions would have held “Israel accountable for clear violations of international law” in Palestine.

Ozturk has petitioned a federal court to order her released, and Cato has joined a broad coalition of groups, led by FIRE, to file an amicus brief supporting that petition. In our brief, we explain that noncitizens residing in the United States have the same First Amendment rights as citizens. The Supreme Court said as much in Bridges v. Wixon (1945), where the Court remarked that “freedom of speech and of the press is accorded aliens residing in this country.” The Supreme Court also affirmed this principle in Bridges v. California (1941), a case in which the Court invalidated the criminal convictions of several people, including a non-citizen, because those convictions violated the First Amendment.

As our brief further explains, Ozturk’s op-ed was protected speech. The government has not alleged that Ozturk was providing material support to terrorists, nor has it alleged that her op-ed fell into any other exception to the First Amendment (such as insurrectionary speech). If a citizen were punished for the same commentary, such punishment would be a blatant First Amendment violation. Ms. Ozturk’s punishment is no different.

Finally, our brief emphasizes that Ozturk’s detention is irreconcilable with the Supreme Court’s admonition that colleges and their “surrounding environs” are “peculiarly the marketplace of ideas.” There are more than a million international students studying at America’s universities. None of them will feel safe criticizing the American government—in class, scholarship, or on their own time—if a current or future Secretary of State may, at his unreviewable discretion, arrest and detain them based on their spoken or written advocacy.

As Justice Frank Murphy wrote in a concurrence in the Wixon case, the freedom of foreign nationals lawfully residing in the United States is “not dependent upon their conformity to the popular notions of the moment,” because the First Amendment “belongs to them as well as to all citizens.” 

Ozturk’s detention and the revocation of her visa violate the First Amendment, and the courts should order her released.

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Ways to Fund Your Side Hustle Without Relying on Banks
next post
Ready To Level Up Your Options Trading?

You may also like

Moody’s Downgrades US Debt

May 20, 2025

What Does Financial Privacy Mean for Liberty?

July 10, 2023

Immigrants & Their Kids Were 70% of U.S. Labor...

May 15, 2023

Six Reforms to Enhance Transparency and Fiscal Accountability...

January 31, 2024

What We Should Hope for from the Newly...

November 20, 2024

Just Say No to NATO Expansion

November 6, 2024

The Fiscal State of the Nation: Testimony

March 13, 2024

Futile ‘FEND OFF Fentanyl Act’ Might Fecklessly Fuel...

February 5, 2024

Yes, Cut the Federal Government and Its Workforce

September 18, 2023

American Compass Dystopia: The “Decline” In Investment

July 19, 2023

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • The Best Way to Expand Naloxone Access? Clear the Path

      May 22, 2025
    • S&P 500 Slide Explained: What Past Price Action Reveals About Market Dips

      May 22, 2025
    • White House shuts down reporter’s ‘ridiculous’ challenge of White South African farmer deaths

      May 22, 2025
    • Antisemitic shooting of Israeli diplomats adds to alarming rise in domestic terrorism

      May 22, 2025
    • Trump has not directed administration to declassify Biden documents on health ‘cover-up’

      May 22, 2025
    • White House decries ‘evil of antisemitism,’ vows justice after fatal shooting of Israeli embassy staffers

      May 22, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,031)
    • Investing (1,981)
    • Politics (15,353)
    • Stocks (3,099)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved