Miguel Afonso Caetano<p>"Patrick Cunningham, the agent who oversaw the arrest of Öztürk in March, told the court in Boston that he had consulted a Department of Homeland Security attorney to check that arresting her based on her visa being revoked was legal. Cunningham also said he had no knowledge of any criminal offense she had committed.</p><p>Öztürk, who was in ICE custody for two months, was released in May.</p><p>“When you receive information from headquarters at this level, top down, you make the assumption that it’s legally sufficient,” Cunningham, who is part of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations arm in Boston, told the court. “But I did contact our legal counsel to ensure that we’re on solid legal ground.”</p><p>Öztürk’s attorney Mahsa Khanbabai said in an email to NBC News that the arrest has “never been about immigration enforcement.</p><p>Rather, it “has always been about retaliation and punishment on protected speech,” Khanbabai said. “We are confident the courts will continue to uphold the basic principles of a just and free society.”"</p><p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/homeland-security-agent-lawyer-ozturks-arrest-rcna218356" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nbcnews.com/news/us-news/homel</span><span class="invisible">and-security-agent-lawyer-ozturks-arrest-rcna218356</span></a></p><p><a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/USA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>USA</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Immigration" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Immigration</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/ICE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ICE</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/HomelandSecurity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>HomelandSecurity</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Deportation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Deportation</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/PoliceState" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PoliceState</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Censorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Censorship</span></a></p>