Judge rules Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk must be transferred to Vermont
A federal court judge has ruled that Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk should be moved to Vermont while a lawsuit challenging her "unconstitutional detention" is pending.
The decision made on Friday came in response to Ozturk being detained by plainclothes immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) agents in masks on the street close to her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, on 25 March as she was on her way to break her fast for Ramadan.
She was driven to multiple places in three states - including New Hampshire and Vermont -before being flown thousands of miles to an ICE detention centre in Basile, Louisiana, making it difficult for her to have access to legal help and community.
Her lawyer filed a habeas petition in Massachusetts without knowing that Ozturk was in Vermont at the time. Consequently, a judge in Massachusetts ordered the case to be moved to Vermont. Last Monday, Judge William K. Sessions III heard arguments from the government and Ozturk’s legal counsel.
Ozturk’s legal team argued that moving Ozturk to Louisiana was an attempt to manipulate federal court jurisdiction.
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Moving Ozturk and other pro-Palestinian students to Louisiana has been a part of a government strategy, as observers assume that immigration courts are more likely to rule in line with the Trump Administration.
Judge Sessions ruled on Friday that the government should transfer Ozturk back to a facility in Vermont no later than 1 May.
Ozturk’s legal team welcomed the court ruling.
ACLU Vermont's legal director, Lia Ernst said they were "grateful" that the judge recognised the urgency of Ozturk's circumstances.
"Today’s ruling rightfully affirms that the government cannot undermine the justice system and attempt to manipulate a case’s jurisdiction by secretly transporting and imprisoning someone over a thousand miles from home," Ernst said.
Ramzi Kassem, co-director and founder of CUNY’s Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) program said, “The court today saw through this government's dilatory tactics and its attempts at jurisdictional manipulation in a reprehensible effort to punish Rümeysa for speaking out for Palestinian human rights."
“By ordering Rümeysa returned to the District of Vermont, the Court vindicates not only her rights, but strikes a salutary note for our Constitution and everyone's right to speak up about the same issue,” Kassem added.
Ozturk has not been charged with a crime. The only basis for her unlawful imprisonment was an op-ed she co-authored over a year ago with three other people in her university newspaper, The Tufts Daily, in support of Palestinians. That support has been characterised as antisemitic by the current administration, which has sought to crack down on Palestinian advocacy since assuming office in January.
The court also set a bail hearing for 9 May and a hearing on the merits of the habeas petition on 22 May.
In a separate hearing at an immigration court in Louisiana on Wednesday, the judge denied bail to Ozturk, saying she was both “a flight risk and a danger to the community.”
Ozturk is a former Fulbright scholar and was undertaking her PhD at Tufts University in child study and human development at the time she was detained.
Since then, Tufts University and the local community have rallied around her. More than 20 friends, colleagues, and professors, including the president of Tufts University, have sent letters of support to the court detailing Ozturk's dedication to her work and her community and asking for her release.
On 10 April – for the first time in years - Tufts Democrats and Republicans drafted and signed a joint statement condemning the Trump administration’s arrest and detention of Ozturk, as well as the government's broader attack on international students and the right to free speech.
On April 11, a coalition of 27 Jewish organizations, including J Street, Bend the Arc, JALSA, and Temple Emanu-El, has also come to Ozturk's defense, submitting a proposed amicus brief to the court.
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