Tufts University graduate student taken into custody by federal authorities in Somerville, school says

A Tufts University international graduate student was taken into custody by federal authorities Tuesday evening, according to the school.

In an email to campus, Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said the student was apprehended “outside an off-campus apartment building in Somerville.” Kumar did not name the student or the federal agency involved.

The student’s attorney told the Boston Globe she is a Turkish national in Tufts’s doctoral program for Child Study and Human Development.

Tufts student visa “terminated”

Kumar said the university was told the student’s visa status “has been terminated” and that they’re looking for more information on what happened.

“The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event, and the location where this took place is not affiliated with Tufts University,” Kumar said in the email.

“The university has no additional information at this time about the cause or circumstances of the student’s apprehension and is attempting to learn more about the incident.”

The president said Tufts has an “established protocol for responding to government agents who arrive on campus (or off-campus), for an unannounced site visit” and that starts with a call to campus police.

WBZ-TV reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for comment but has not heard back from the agency.

The Boston office of the FBI told WBZ Wednesday that “It’s an ICE matter.”

Somerville is one of the communities in Massachusetts that have designated themselves as sanctuary cities. Massachusetts law does not allow law enforcement to hold someone for just their immigration status.

“Border czar” in Massachusetts

Earlier this week, President Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan said he visited Boston recently as ICE arrested 370 people in Massachusetts, who are allegedly in the U.S. illegally. 

On Tuesday, Homan said some of those arrested were “collaterals,” but that “the majority” of those apprehended were criminals that included murderers, child rapists and drug traffickers.