Massachusetts state and local officials, Tufts University call for immediate release of immigrant student – JURIST

Massachusetts state and local elected officials, including Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, joined Tufts University on Thursday in calls for the immediate release of doctoral student, Rumeysa Ozturk. The university maintains that Ozturk did not violate any Tufts’ policy while Massachusetts officials have accused the federal government of violating Ozturk’s free speech and due process rights. Tufts University also alluded to the chilling effect Ozturk’s detention has had on the campus community.

Massachusetts officials signed a joint statement in support of Ozturk’s release stating:

Ms. Öztürk appears to have been detained by federal agents for voicing her views—opinions that are constitutionally protected free speech for citizens and immigrants alike. Our Constitution does not require that we all agree with one another’s free speech, but the rule of law that it undergirds requires that we uphold freedom of expression for all—as well as due process. Ms. Öztürk thus appears to be a political detainee in a democracy that does not—and should not—allow for such oppression…

..we call for the immediate release of Rümeysa Öztürk and the restoration of her student visa, not only so that she may return to her studies and contribute to our communities but so that we as a great country can honor our democratic systems, protect our liberty, and uphold the law. 

In his own call for Ozturk’s release, Tufts University President Sunil Kumar highlighted “the thousands of Tufts University alumni [who] have received their education while on F-1 visas and have gone on to make a positive impact to the economic prosperity and intellectual success of the United States and in other countries.”

In an interesting turn of events the very next day, a federal court in Massachusetts denied the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss Ozturk’s petition for immediate release from the correctional facility in Louisiana where she is being detained. Judge Denise Casper also denied the administration’s alternative request to transfer the case to the western district of Louisiana and instead ordered that the case be transferred to the district of Vermont, as the student was being transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in St. Albans, Vermont, when her attorney filed the habeas corpus petition for release.

Last week, Casper temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to deport Ozturk and ordered that she not be removed from the US until the court has had an opportunity to determine whether it has subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case. That order itself followed another order from another federal judge of the same court, three days prior, instructing that Ozturk not be moved outside the district of Massachusetts without at least 48 hours’ notice to the court.

However, despite that order, Ozturk was moved to an immigration detention center in Louisiana. Ozturk’s attorney first learned of her whereabouts nearly 24 hours after her arrest. Casper’s Friday notes that Ozturk suffers from asthma and experienced an asthma attack during her transfer due to lack of medication.

Ozturk is a Turkish national on an F-1 “student” visa who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last month as she was walking down a street in the city of Somerville. Footage of the arrest shows unidentified officers, with their faces covered, apprehending Ozturk. Ozturk was reportedly taken away in an unmarked vehicle and her cellphone was confiscated.

Ozturk co-authored an op-ed article in 2024 calling for Tufts University to disclose and divest from Israeli ties. Ozturk’s attorney alleges that her visa was revoked in retaliation for co-authoring this article. She can also be found on Canary Mission, a doxxing website that publishes the personal information of individuals considered to be anti-Israel.

In addition to Ozturk’s First Amendment claim, the petition for her release also alleges violation of her due process rights under the Fifth Amendment and violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

In reaching her own conclusion here, Casper took notice of a case from 1944 — Ex parte Endo — involving a Japanese-American citizen who was interned in California and filed a petition in the northern district, challenging her detention. Even though she was later transferred to Utah, the Supreme Court ruled the transfer did not divest the Northern District of California of its jurisdiction.

The order to transfer Ozturk’s case to Vermont also stated that the previous order enjoining the federal government from removing Ozturk from the US shall remain effective “unless and until the transferee court orders otherwise.”