Summary

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, was detained in Somerville, MA, by masked agents claiming to be police, without charges or transparency.

The Trump administration alleges she supported Hamas, citing unverified intelligence, after her student visa was revoked.

Der Spiegel linked her detention to pro-Palestinian advocacy, including an opinion piece urging divestment from Israel.

The incident sparked outrage, highlighting long-standing surveillance and detainment of Muslim Americans under national security pretenses.

Civil liberties advocates warn of increasing government overreach targeting minority communities.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    170
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    6 days ago

    How are such agents alive? They are masked and ambush an innocent woman.
    Where is the good guy with a gun?

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      75
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      6 days ago

      Not sure if you’re being sarcastic (the internet has ruined my sarcasm detector), but the “good guy with a gun” is just a mythological figure invented by the gun lobby.

      I’m not saying good people don’t pack heat, just that the “good guy with a gun” is about as real as the Easter Bunny.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        56
        ·
        edit-2
        6 days ago

        It was part sarcasm, exactly that the good guy with a gun is myth, and it’s a myth that guns help defend against government overreach.

        But there is also the fact that there is a LOT of gun crime in USA, and it is absolutely a risk IMO that these people could get shot by a vigilante.

        But as you say, the good guys don’t pack heat, so those that do are probably perfectly OK with this.

        • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          6 days ago

          Ah, makes sense. I live in a red state, so I have to hear the “good guy with a gun” fallacy pretty much on the daily.

          • jaybone@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            6 days ago

            Still think @Buffalox makes a decent point. You never know there could be some cowboy out there, sees a woman getting dragged into a van by masked men, and starts popping off rounds.

      • WuceBrillis@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        22
        ·
        edit-2
        6 days ago

        The comment you responded to works either way.

        It points out that the good guy with a gun is never actually there when needed, because its a fantasy character.

        While at the same time, it actually wonders why not a single person opened shots at these masked men, in the most heavily armed country in the world.

      • entwine413@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        6 days ago

        Eh, I’d say about as real an ethical landlord. They do exist, but they’re never around when you need them.

        But there are a handful of cases in recent history where an armed civilian stopped an active shooter. I think it happened with one of the church mass shootings, I want to say Georgia, but that might have been an off duty cop (technically a civilian).

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      6 days ago

      You’re suggesting a bystander pull a gun on ICE agents? How does that possibly go well for anyone?

      • turmacar@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        45
        ·
        edit-2
        6 days ago

        Are they ICE agents?

        There’s a reason we, in the past, set up things like badges and uniforms to identify agents of the civil authority. It’s so we know there is at least the pretense that the rights of the person being arrested will be respected and that they will go to a location where they can be checked on and communicate with friends/family and receive legal assistance for the charges brought against them.

        Masked men with guns shouting “I’m definitely police” and bagging a woman is not that.

        Their bosses pretending this is good enough is, at the very very very least, endangering federal agents unnecessarily. To say nothing of the rights of the people they’re disappearing without the pretense of arresting them.

        • catloaf@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          6 days ago

          Probably ICE. You can see them pull out those necklace badges from under their hoodies in the video.

          • LordGimp@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            6 days ago

            Badges are cheap and can be easily faked. Without additional confirmation (squad car, uniform, LEO id), its absolutely reasonable to assume these people are impersonating police officers and are therefore criminals.

            In America, we have the right to shoot criminals who resist detention. I have a feeling these pigs would resist. All you need is an excuse.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        6 days ago

        Anyone can claim they are ICE and take a woman off the street. There’s a reason why they need to legally identify themselves.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        6 days ago

        Why not read the response I gave Admiral Patrick that had a somewhat similar response?

    • Yeather@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      6 days ago

      Massachusetts does not have a stand your ground law. It would be illegal for anyone else to step in with a firearm. She is also not able to acquire a firearm under Massachusetts law.

      • feannag@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        24
        ·
        6 days ago

        Not having a stand your ground law just means you have a duty to escape/remove yourself from the situation if it is safe to do so. It does not eliminate your right to self defense or extend it to defense of another. If someone is being kidnapped, they reasonably could not escape.

        That being said, I doubt it would be ruled in favor of a defendant in this case.

        • Yeather@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          6 days ago

          She was also unable to acquire a firearm, and the police did technically identify themselves as police. Very shady overall.

          • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            5 days ago

            the police did technically identify themselves as police

            Verbally and with noting to help back up that claim.

      • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        6 days ago

        It would be illegal for anyone else to step in with a firearm

        It’s also illegal for people in plain clothes to abduct women off the street.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      5 days ago

      Where is the good guy with a gun?

      In a coffee shop cosplaying as a tough guy.

    • ssroxnak@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      6 days ago

      People carry a gun to protect themselves and their family. Not necessarily random strangers. In fact, most state CCW classes tell you to stay away from situations where you might have to use your gun to help others.

      The good guy with the gun is either a cop, or a concealed carrier in the middle of the situation. In this case, cops were the bad guys.

      • PattyMcB@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        6 days ago

        Yup… the proper response to this situation as a bystander is to film and expose the situation. Even in a “stand your ground” state, it’s not justified to start shooting. (Not legal advice - ALWAYS know the local laws)

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        6 days ago

        It’s OK you didn’t get it.
        Good guy with a gun is a myth, and is never there.
        Still a bunch of masked men terrorizing a woman, should be an obvious target in the worlds most heavily armed country.
        But even in this situation the good guy with a gun is absent, and the guns don’t help against government overreach, which is the purpose of excuse for the 2nd amendment.