Homeland Security agent says he was told not to inform Rümeysa Öztürk her visa was revoked when she was arrested

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN

(CNN) — Federal investigators normally tasked with uncovering narcotic and financial crimes were told to prioritize the arrest of a university student with no criminal record, and not tell her that her visa was revoked, a Homeland Security Investigation agent testified Tuesday, a marked shift for the agency under President Donald Trump.

The agent, Patrick Cunningham, appeared during the second week of a trial in Boston over the Trump administration’s so-called ideological deportation policy, which a group of university professors say is intended to limit protected political speech.

The trial has highlighted how the Department of Homeland Security began taking orders from the State Department as it targeted certain professors and students to change their immig