Keller: Poll finds strong disapproval of how ICE handled arrest of Tufts student
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
A new poll of three New England states including Massachusetts finds strong disapproval of how ICE is handling immigrant arrests.
"Thank you everyone for all the support and love," said Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk last month as she was freed after 45 days in ICE detention.
But some supporters of Ozturk were in a less cheery mood after weeks spent working for the release of the student, hauled off the street by masked ICE agents for the offense of co-authoring an op-ed article in the Tufts student newspaper calling for an end to hostilities in Gaza. "She was never charged with any crime," noted ACLU Executive Director Carol Rose. "The government never produced any evidence that she had done anything wrong."
The polls show continued support for President Trump's overall handling of immigration. But not for sending armed troops to the streets of Los Angeles, and definitely not for siccing ICE on the likes of Ozturk, whose arrest video made news all over the world.
Poll shows disapproval Ozturk case
A new Suffolk University/Boston Globe in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island finds a whopping 70% disapproved of the way her case was handled, with 58% strongly objecting. Just 16% approved.
"They like the intent, but they don't like the methodology," said Suffolk pollster Dave Paleologos. "She didn't creep over the border in the back of a van and meet up with some seedy characters to plot to protest and overthrow the government. It could be your niece, your nephew, your grandchild and that's troubling."
It's an overreach even the most hardline backers of the president's immigrant crackdown find hard to swallow. "Even within the Republican party there's compassion and empathy and pushback in terms of how ICE is treating these cases," notes Paleologos.
It's pretty clear that voters wanted something done about dangerous criminals here illegally. And now they're making it clear that a mild-mannered college student who co-wrote a benign op-ed piece isn't what they had in mind.
But Paleologos suggests the proof will be in the crime statistics. If they take a nosedive, Trump will be widely applauded for his policies despite its mistakes.
If they don't, more than a few will wonder -- what on earth was this all about?
