NJN in Action- NJN joins Amicus Brief challenging Trump’s anti-free speech agenda

New Jewish Narrative is one of 27 Jewish organizations that have filed a request to submit an amicus brief in federal court objecting to the arrest, detention, and potential deportation of a Tufts University student because of her political speech. 

A motion was filed yesterday in Vermont. The student is Rümeysa Öztürk. She was apprehended on the street last month and is being held in an ICE facility in Louisiana. The Trump Administration revoked Öztürk’s visa under a rarely invoked statute because she co-authored an op-ed in the Tufts student newspaper supporting certain resolutions of the Tufts student senate that were harshly critical of Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

“Without presuming to speak for all of Jewish America—a diverse community that holds a multitude of viewpoints—amici are compelled to file this brief because the arrest, detention, and potential deportation of Rümeysa Öztürk for her protected speech violate the most basic constitutional rights,” we say in our brief. 

While we may disagree with some of Öztürk’s statements, we firmly stand behind her right to voice her dissent. Moreover, we strongly object to the Administration’s claims that its actions against Öztürk support efforts to combat antisemitism. As we wrote in our brief: “The government... 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.”