Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk details conditions in immigration facility: Document

A doctoral student studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts says conditions inside a Louisiana immigration detention facility where she's being held are "inhumane" and "unsafe," according to a court filing obtained by USA TODAY.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained 30-year-old Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk, who was in the country on a valid F-1 visa , near her home as she was on her way to meet friends to break her Ramadan fast on March 25, her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, told USA TODAY.

Three weeks later, Ozturk says that she has limited access to food, has to wait hours for toilet paper and isn't getting proper treatment for her asthma at an ICE facility in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY on April 14.

“The conditions in the facility are very unsanitary, unsafe, and inhumane," she said, according to the records. "There is a mouse in our cell. The boxes they provide for our clothing are very dirty and they don’t give us adequate hygiene supplies."

Ozturk also accused a nurse in the ICE facility of forcing her to remove her hijab without her permission.

“She said, ‘You need to take that thing off your head’ and took off my hijab without asking my permission,” Ozturk said. “They did nothing to treat my asthma and gave me a few ibuprofen.”

ICE did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.

Ozturk's arrest by masked agents  has become a high-profile example of Republican President  Donald Trump 's efforts to  deport pro-Palestinian activists on U.S. campuses  who have  spoken out against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza .

A senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told USA TODAY last month that investigators found that Ozturk "engaged in activities in support of Hamas ," a designated terrorist organization.

"A visa is a privilege, not a right," said the spokesperson, who declined to be identified. "Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is common-sense security."

The Homeland Security spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions from USA TODAY about whether Ozturk had been charged.

Ozturk details her detention

Ozturk detailed her arrest by immigration officials while she was walking near the Tufts University campus in Somerville, according to court records.

“I was speaking to my mother on the phone when several men approached me on the street and then surrounded me and I screamed,” she said.

Once she was placed into one of the unmarked cars, Ozturk said, she began to suffer asthma symptoms and asked for her inhaler. At the same time, Ozturk said, the officers “shackled my feet and belly.”

More: Judge asks if 'constitutional crisis' looms in Tufts student's immigration case

Ozturk said she feared for her life while she was initially taken from Massachusetts to a detention center in Vermont. Ozturk also said officers repeatedly denied her requests to speak to her attorney or friends to inform them of her condition.

“They didn’t let me make any calls, and they asked me to put the phone into flight mode,” Ozturk said. "I was so tired and scared so I agreed. It was an isolated place with four men, and it was terrifying."

Ozturk: 'I don't feel safe' at facility's medical center

Ozturk was later transferred from Vermont to Louisiana despite a judge's order that ICE keep Ozturk in Massachusetts, as well as provide 48-hour notice if the agency wanted to move her outside the state and why.

Ozturk said she has suffered multiple asthma attacks inside the facility where she's being held and claims medical personnel in the Louisiana detention facility have done almost nothing to help.

“I don’t feel safe at the medical center,” she said.

Judge: Ozturk's detention a 'potential constitutional crisis'

U.S. District Judge William Sessions questioned whether the Trump administration would instigate a "constitutional crisis" by refusing to release Ozturk if he concluded her arrest was unlawful, according to reporting from Reuters .

"If the government then says, 'Oh, no, she can't be released because we have a detention order in immigration, which is inviolate, and she's not going to be released,' then we're in a constitutional crisis," Sessions said during a hearing in Burlington.

Sessions also suggested he may order authorities to move Ozturk from the Louisiana detention center back to Vermont.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher argued that the case did not belong in Vermont and that Sessions did not have the power to order Ozturk’s release.

Ozturk says she hopes to return to Tufts

Ozturk said in court filings that she just wants to return to Tufts to complete her doctorate, which she has been working on for five years.

“I pray every day for my release so I can go back to my home and community in Somerville,” Ozturk said, detailing her summer plans to mentor students, teach a children's media course to high school students and help select students for an undergraduate research program.

She concluded: "I want to return to Tufts to resume all of my cherished work."

Contributing: Reuters

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Detained Tufts student details conditions in immigration facility: Doc