In a separate document dated March 21 and reviewed by The Post, the State Department informed DHS that the revocation of Ozturk’s visa had been “approved” under the discretionary authority.

“Due to ongoing ICE operations security, this revocation will be silent; the Department of State will not notify the subject of the revocation,” the memo says.

Legal analysts say a key difference between the 2 authorities at Rubio’s disposal is that the original one “requires a rationale & explanation and evidence,” said Soulmaz Taghavi, an #immigration atty. But the authority ultimately used for Ozturk’s #deportation does not.

“There’s a chain of communication that gets passed along to the attorney general, but there isn’t any requirement to justify or rationalize what exactly the removal” is based on, Taghavi said.

The memo also said that a search of U.S. government databases on Ozturk did not produce any terrorism-related information about her.

As a result of the lack of evidence, the department said she could be deported using a different authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows for the revocation of a visa at the secretary of state’s discretion.

After receiving the recommendation from DHS, the #State Dept found that while Ozturk had protested Tufts’ relationship with Israel, neither #DHS nor #ICE nor Homeland Security investigations produced any evidence showing that Ozturk has engaged in antisemitic activity or made public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization, according to U.S. government employees briefed on the State Department’s memo.

“OZTURK engaged in anti-Israel activism in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israelis on October 7, 2023,” says the memo, from senior DHS official Andre Watson to senior State Department official John Armstrong.

“Specifically,” Watson’s memo says Ozturk “co-authored an Op-ed article” that “called for Tufts to ‘disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.’”

#DHS originally recommended the revocation of #RumeysaOzturk’s #visa under an authority in the #Immigration & Nationality Act that allows for the deportation of a foreigner if the secy of state has reasonable grounds to believe the person’s presence or activities has “adverse policy consequence for the United States,” acc/to a copy of a separate memo reviewed by WaPo & sent by DHS to the #State Dept before her detention last month.

The memo, written by an office within the #State Dept, raises doubts about the public accusations made by the #Trump administration as it has sought to justify #RumeysaOzturk’s #deportation. The #DHS has said Ozturk engaged in activities “in support of Hamas,” a #US - designated terrorist organization, but neither that agency nor US prosecutors have provided evidence for that claim.

The finding, contained in a March memo that was described to WaPo, said #Trump’s Secy of State #MarcoRubio did not have sufficient grounds for revoking Ozturk’s #visa under an authority empowering the top US diplomat to safeguard the #ForeignPolicy interests of the US.

Days BEFORE masked #ICE agents detained #Tufts University student #RumeysaOzturk to deport her, the #State Dept determined that the #Trump admin had not produced any evidence showing that she engaged in antisemitic activities or made public statements supporting a terrorist organization, as the govt has alleged.

#TrumpLies #immigration #law #StateSponsoredAbduction #DueProcess