Charlie Kirk Says Trump Admin Fueling Anti-Semitism by Detaining Critics of ‘Foreign Country’ Israel

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk criticized the Trump administration over the detention and pending deportation of a Turkish graduate student who wrote an essay critical of Israel.

Rümeysa Öztürk, a doctoral student at Tufts University, was taken into custody by Department of Homeland Security agents in March.

Öztürk, who is in the United States on a valid F-1 student visa, was apprehended near her home and later transferred to an immigration facility in Louisiana. She is awaiting deportation to Turkey

On Tuesday, a judge ordered Öztürk to be moved to an immigration facility in Vermont. That ruling is currently being challenged by the Department of Justice.

In an interview with Mark Halperin of 2WAY, Kirk expressed concern over the reasoning behind Öztürk’s detention because it was in connection with statements she made about Israel, and not the U.S..

“Deporting somebody because they wrote an op-ed critical of Israel—I think that’s probably in the grey area,” Kirk said.

Halperin asked, “So would you say that there’s some things that the administration’s done on immigration where you think they haven’t been sufficiently respectful of First Amendment rights? Is that fair to say?” Kirk replied:

No, I wouldn’t even say that. I would say that we run a little bit of a problem if we are going to say that the criteria to get your visa revoked is writing an op-ed. Now that might be an exaggeration by somebody, right? And the op-ed was not even critical of America, which it was critical of a foreign country. And again, I’m very pro-Israel as I say this. And let me tell you why. I actually think it creates more anti-Israel hostility and anti-Semitism when it looks as if such a strong hand of the government is gonna come in.

Watch above via 2WAY.