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Graduate student R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk was detained by ICE agents on March 25 in Somerville, Massachusetts. <\/span>Screenshot of surveillance footage via CNN<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the 10 days<\/span> since Tufts University PhD student R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, her lawyers say<\/a> their client has had three asthma attacks<\/a>.\u00a0During that time, according to three Democratic legislators and \u00d6zt\u00fcrk\u2019s lawyers, ICE has not provided the student her inhaler or other medication as required by law. (ICE did not return a request for comment.)<\/p>\n Like other students detained on suspicion of involvement in pro-Palestine activity, \u00d6zt\u00fcrk has not been charged with or accused of any crime. Instead, Tricia McLaughlin<\/a>, the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s assistant secretary of public affairs, claimed<\/a> \u00d6zt\u00fcrk\u2014who is a Fulbright scholar originally from Turkey\u2014\u201cengaged in activities in support of Hamas.\u201d This, according to \u00d6zt\u00fcrk\u2019s friends and lawyers<\/a>, strains credibility. Her lawyers say \u00d6zt\u00fcrk is likely being targeted based on an op-ed<\/a> she co-wrote a year ago, encouraging Tufts to divest from Israel.<\/p>\n \u00d6zt\u00fcrk, who studies child psychology, was moved by ICE agents from Massachusetts to Vermont and then to Louisiana, her attorneys report. For nearly 24 hours, her legal team was unable to contact or locate her. En route to Louisiana, she suffered her first of three asthma attacks. Hearings in \u00d6zt\u00fcrk\u2019s case began yesterday,<\/a> with her lawyers describing the way she was transported across several state lines as \u201cvenue shopping\u201d by the government and \u201can act of either furtiveness or bad faith.\u201d They also revealed that in the days since being moved to a detention center in Louisiana, \u00d6zt\u00fcrk has suffered two more asthma attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unmanaged asthma can have severe acute outcomes, the most extreme being respiratory failure resulting in death, as well as long-term effects, such as permanently altering a person\u2019s airways. The way to avoid these devastating effects is simple: People with asthma need to have access to their medication, like inhalers, to manage this chronic health condition.<\/p>\n ICE claims to follow<\/a> Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which would require \u00d6zt\u00fcrk to have the same access to medical care as everyone else. Denying \u00d6zt\u00fcrk her medication could potentially impede her disability civil rights, and failures to provide ICE detainees access to care have been the subject<\/a> of complaints under Section 504<\/a> in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an amended lawsuit<\/a> filed Wednesday, \u00d6zt\u00fcrk\u2019s lawyers said that due to her not having access to her medications, \u201ceach day Ms. \u00d6zt\u00fcrk remains in detention puts her life at risk.\u201d Due to crowding in ICE detention facilities, \u00d6zt\u00fcrk is arguably also at increased risk of catching Covid-19, which could exacerbate her existing respiratory problems.<\/a><\/p>\n Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), whose district includes the Somerville street where \u00d6zt\u00fcrk was abducted, posted<\/a> on social media Thursday night that ICE\u2019s reported failure to provide \u00d6zt\u00fcrk with her medication is \u201ca violation of her fundamental right to medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is cruelty, it is neglect, and it is a damning moral and legal failure,\u201d Pressley wrote. <\/p>\n In a statement with Massachusetts Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, Pressley demanded that the Department of Homeland Security \u201cimmediately provide R\u00fcmeysa with access to the health care that she needs,\u201d provide compelling evidence as to why she was detained in the first place, and, absent that evidence, release her and restore her visa.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEvery minute she remains in custody is another minute her health and rights are at risk,\u201d the legislators said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n