Rümeysa Öztürk: What I Witnessed Inside an ICE Women’s Prison
The shocking arrest of Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk while walking down the street in Somerville, Massachusetts, has shined a light on ICE’s aggressive tactics and sparked protests in support of the First Amendment.
In an exclusive first-hand account of her 45 days spent in a South Louisiana processing facility, Öztürk reveals the grueling conditions she encountered, as well as the support she drew from other female detainees. “We each found ourselves trapped in our own individual nightmares, but we found comfort and relief in one another, and we shared the burden and pain by listening to each other,” she writes.
“In one small room, a world of possibilities unfolded: It transformed into a therapy space, a beauty salon, a hairstyling center, a Pilates studio, a medical center, a massage room, an interfaith temple, and an art studio all at once—without any tools or resources,” she continues. “We tackled long-standing disputes that have plagued our nations for years, between Armenia and Turkey, Russia and Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. We bonded over our shared experiences, which spanned geographies from Colombia to Iran and Afghanistan to Honduras.”
Elsewhere, the MAGA meltdown over the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein memo continues. As Molly Jong-Fast notes, “because the flames of the Epstein conspiracy have long been fanned by MAGA world, including Donald Trump loyalists now holding powerful positions in government, such as FBI director Kash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino, the memo fueled a meltdown the likes of which we haven’t seen in a decade of Trump’s political movement.”
Meanwhile, one Texas Democrat is trying to force Trump’s hand in the mess. This week, Eric Lutz checked in with Congressman Marc Veasey regarding a resolution he introduced calling for the immediate release of all files related to Epstein, convicted fixer Ghislaine Maxwell, and other associates. “The administration has options here,” Veasey says. “They can release the files and say, ‘We were wrong. There was nothing there.’ If that’s the case, all the things that they said were not true. Or there’s something there that the American public needs to see that has to do with serious allegations of child abuse.”
The Epstein saga has put Mike Johnson into a tight corner, Bess Levin writes. “Just hours after telling right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson that he is ‘for transparency’ when it comes to Epstein,” she notes, “the GOP leader blocked a procedural maneuver by Democrats that would have set up a vote in the House to release the Epstein ‘files.’”
Thanks for reading.
—Michael Calderone and Katia Bachko