Higher rated players are included in chess.com tournament

El_Senior, you miss the point.  The tournament was supposed to be for 1200-1400 players, but many players were allowed to START the tournament when their ratings are outside this range.  Sure, players grades change all the time, and so during the tournament the grades may go outside this range, but it is a farce to create a tournament for this range and let anybody outside the range start.  Most likely, the tournament for 1200-1400 players will be won by a player who started the tournament as a 1800+!!

Normally in official tournaments, players are not booted, they are moved just prior to the start so everyone is in the stated range. This failed to happen for the first time in the history of chess.com in the most recently started tournaments.

Opinions do not enter the conversation here. It was a stated condition of the tournament. It did not happen. See post #6 by staff member dajacca. "it was a mistake. We are sorry." 

This is an #1 advance tournament. There is really no chance to compete against a 1700+ player, even if they give us draw odds or play f3/f6 openings :(

I have tried to join tournaments by mistake and have been unable to do so when I have gotten a message stating; "Your score is too high to join this tournament".  This is the type of filter that the director(s) apparently did not include in the settings of this tournament and that is why you got people with any score to be able to join.  They set the rules in writting (1200-1400) but they forgot to set the filter that prevents those high ranking players from joining.  Hence this tournament is being run as an OPEN tournament and not as a limited 1200-1400 one.  These high ranking players may have joined by mistake or some may have done it intentionally.  Whatever the case, this should be a lesson for the director(s) in the future to INCLUDE THE FILTER whenever they set up a limited tournament.  Without the filter, anyone would be able to join as an OPEN tournament and there are many open tournaments out there.     

What does it mean when status is 'removed'? Is it voluntary or booted by an admin? I'm playing in a u1600 tournie, and one player who was 1960 was 'removed' despite having played and won all games in 1st round (was a 1300 rating at time). Very unfair if that is the case imo.

http://www.chess.com/tournaments/players.html?id=25658

If you follow through to the player's profile you would see that the account has been closed.

There are multiple reasons for the player to be "removed".

If a user closes his account (as in this case), he is "removed" from the tournament

The TD (tournament director) has the right to "remove" a player from the tournament. Usually chess.com staff don't do this. In other tournaments rarely people are removed. For e.g. if the tournament is created for player with <1300 and a new user registered. By the time the tournment starts and new user reaches 2000+, the player could be forcibly removed from the tournament by TD. The player could "withdrew" himself from the tournament. 

One thing for sure all the matches are terminated. It is not clear whether they are treated as time-outs or not. It is also not clear how the ratings are affected.

but higher rated players still lose on time!

I'd be delighted to play higher rated players.  Each game against a higher rated opponent is simply a game to make you better.  Your rating shouldn't matter.