A federal judge in Vermont is holding a hearing Monday regarding jurisdictional issues involving a Tufts University Ph. D student who is being detained by the Trump administration.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student at the Massachusetts university from Turkey, was detained last month on her way back from a Ramadan Iftar dinner on March 25 after her student visa was revoked. Ozturk is one of hundreds of students studying at American universities whose visas have been revoked or stopped from reentering the United States after they were accused of publicly expressing support for Palestinians.
Ozturk’s attorneys argue that her detention is unconstitutional. She is currently detained at a federal detention center in Basile, Louisiana, where the government argues her case should be heard.
Mahsa Khanbabai, one of Ozturk’s attorneys, told CBS Boston on Sunday that it’s “pretty clear, based on the lack of evidence that the government has submitted, that she’s done anything that’s violated our immigration laws.”
“It’s essentially just trying to silence and show everyone from speaking out and creating basically this, you know, Soviet-style era of watch your neighbor and report on what your neighbor is doing to us,” Khanbabi said.
After taking Ozturk into custody, immigration officials took her from Somerville to Methuen, Massachusetts, and then to Lebanon, New Hampshire, according to court filings. From there, she was brought to an ICE field office in St. Albans, Vermont, and was held there overnight. The following morning, on March 26, Ozturk was taken to the airport in Burlington, Vermont, and flown to Louisiana, where her custody was transferred to the immigration detention facility in Basile.
Earlier this month, a federal judge rejected an effort by the Justice Department to throw out the challenge to Ozturk’s detention after she was first taken into custody, and also denied an effort by the department to move her case to Louisiana. The same judge blocked Ozturk’s removal from the United States until court proceedings play out.
Ozturk’s attorneys have argued in court proceedings that her detention is unconstitutional, violating her right to free speech and due process.
Monday’s arguments will be heard by Vermont District Court judge William K Sessions III, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton.
In a court filing last week, Ozturk, 30, detailed how she was detained by ICE. Surveillance footage showed six plainclothes ICE agents who appeared to be wearing masks stopping Ozturk on the street and taking her into custody.
“I felt very scared and concerned as the men surrounded me and grabbed my phone from me,” Ozturk said in the statement, writing that the officers told her they were police, and one quickly showed what might have been a gold badge. “But I didn’t think they were the police because I had never seen police approach and take someone away like this,” she said.
She added that the officers did not tell her why they were arresting her, and that they repeatedly denied her requests to speak to an attorney.
While a letter dated March 25 did not state the basis for revocation of her visa, Ozturk had co-authored an editorial published in March 2024 in the school newspaper that criticized Tufts for dismissing several resolutions adopted by the undergraduate student Senate in an effort to “hold Israel accountable for clear violations of international law.” The op-ed piece did not mention Hamas.
