#RümeysaÖztürk's attorneys include in their filing that her arrest & detention — without any notice — is not a necessary or usual part of #visa revocation but an experience "designed to #silence her, #punish her for her #speech, & ensure that other #students will be chilled from expressing pro-#Palestinian viewpoints."

@nico198X @aral @robin Problem with #PayPal et. al. is that there ain't real & global competitiors.

• AFAIK, #SEPA-bound #wero won't allow people to setup accounts outside #EU / #EFTA / #SEPA area and get them at least topped-up (unlike PayPal, #VISA & #MasterCard, which literally offer #Prepaid cards aroubd the globe except North Korea, Belarus, Cuba and #WesternSahara / #SADR)…

And not only is it impractical for people to travel in person to i.e. Germany just to wait weeks (!!!) on an appointment and get a bank accout opened in person but even then the Bsic Account as per @BaFin regulations only applies to consumers in Germany and not SMEs from overseas and even then those business accounts are usually way more expensive than partnering with an expensive payment processor to outsorce headaches.

• Ask me how I know...

Needless to say the #PayPalMafia got their power to basically monopolize global payments...

#Immigration ofcls also detained #Palestinian activist & #Columbia graduate #MahmoudKhalil – a #GreenCard holder – earlier this month in front of his pregnant wife, Noor, a US citizen. Other students detained by immigration ofcls include #BadarSuri, an Indian postdoctoral fellow at #Georgetown University, after #DHS accused him of having ties to Hamas.

In recent wks, federal authorities have detained a handful of other #university #students & #researchers – including #GreenCard holders – who have expressed #Palestinian solidarity amid #Israel’s deadly war on #Gaza. Earlier this week, 30-yr-old #RumeysaOzturk, a Turkish doctoral student at #Tufts University, was detained by masked federal ofcls in dramatic footage that has caused widespread outrage.

Also earlier this month, #Canada citizen #JasmineMooney was detained by US authorities & was held by #ICE for 2 weeks before being released. In another case, a tourist from #Germany, 29-yr-old tattoo artist #JessicaBrösche, spent 6 weeks in #detention including 8 days in #solitary confinement after she was arrested at the Mexican border on 18 Feb.

…A GoFundMe page set up by Anderson for #KseniyaPetrova said that the researcher was hired to work for #Harvard Medical School & had entered the US on a #WorkVisa. Anderson did not specify which work #visa category Petrova was under.
…Reports of Petrova’s detention come just weeks after a French #scientist was denied entry in the US this month after US #immigration officers searched his phone & found messages critical of #Trump.
#immigration #law #Constitution #DueProcess #CivilRights #DualState

We had no idea initially what had happened to her since she was unable to send any messages or make any calls upon detention. She was moved to a facility in Vermont at first & then #Louisiana where she is now. Where she is now is a #jail that has space rented by #ICE & is kept in a room with over 80 other female detainees,” Anderson posted.

…Why was she handcuffed & pulled off the street? She had not committed a #crime; she did not present a danger. She could have been notified of the change in her #visa status by mail, given instructions to leave the country promptly, & given a deadline with which to comply.

But merely pulling #RumeysaOzturk’s visa wasn’t the point. Even having Ozturk leave the country wasn’t the point. The point was to arrest her.

…It gets worse….

On Tues evening a masked group abducted a woman off the streets of #Boston. They wore no uniforms. Their faces were covered.…

The woman being abducted is #RumeysaOzturk, a #Tufts University grad student & Turkish national w/a valid #StudentVisa. She does not appear to have been charged w/any crimes. The US govt merely says that her student #visa has been *revoked* because she “supported Hamas,” but declined to give further details.