Judge orders detained Tufts PhD student be transferred from Louisiana to Vermont ahead of bail hearing

Boston Globe

19-04-2025

The ruling came days after a federal immigration judge in Louisiana
was both 'a flight risk and a danger to the community.'
The two rulings highlight the jurisdictional questions that have been raised about where her case should be heard: in an immigration court or a federal district court.
Sessions' decision was a response to a petition by Öztürk's lawyers Wednesday night for her to be sent from Louisiana to Vermont by Friday.
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'Accordingly, the Court denies the government's request to dismiss the Petition and orders that Ms. Öztürk be transferred to ICE custody within the District of Vermont.'
The court stayed its order for four days to allow either side to appeal.
Öztürk's case was transferred to Vermont on April 4 after a federal judge in Boston decided it was the proper venue, denying the government's request to dismiss her petition altogether or transfer the case to a more favorable venue in Louisiana.
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In the order filed Friday, Sessions wrote that the federal government ignored the order from the federal judge in Boston entirely.
'Ignoring an order, particularly one issued on an emergency basis in response to events that are currently unfolding, is not the approach the Court expects from the government,' he wrote. 'The remedy for the government ignoring the March 25, 2025, order is simple. Ms. Ozturk should be returned to the status quo at the time of issuance when she was in custody in the District of Vermont.'
The White House did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the ruling Friday night. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration and customs enforcement, said it refers case-specific inquiries on visa revocations to the State Department. A spokesperson said the department does not comment on ongoing litigation.
Öztürk was arrested in March as part of the Trump administration's pledge to deport students here on a visa who had, in the administration's view, expressed antisemitic views.
Öztürk had coauthored a pro-Palestinian
In his ruling Friday, Sessions wrote that the op-ed is the 'only specific act cited by the government so far' as justification for her arrest. He said the government has 'submitted no evidence to counter' Öztürk's First Amendment claim, or evidence 'to support an alternative, lawful motivation or purpose for' her detention.
'This Court does not believe that a reasonable reader of the op-ed would find a true threat or incitement of lawless action, let alone obscenity or defamation,' he wrote.
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'Tufts University has confirmed that the op-ed did not violate any Tufts policy, that no complaints were filed about the op-ed, that the speech in the op-ed was consistent with University guidelines, and indeed that it was just one of many op-eds discussing the issue published in the school newspaper.'
Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union who are representing Öztürk praised Sessions' order, calling it a 'crucial step for upholding the rule of law in our country.'
'With this ruling, a federal court has rightfully reaffirmed that Rümeysa Öztürk's case belongs in Vermont — significantly closer to her friends, community, and counsel,' Jessie Rossman, legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement. 'At the same time, the judge sent a clear message that any attempt to manipulate the judiciary is simply wrong."
Öztürk, a Turkish national and Fulbright scholar pursuing a doctorate in child and human development, was arrested while walking on a sidewalk by masked federal immigration agents on March 25, and was brought within a day to a rural Louisiana detention facility, where she has been held since despite raising health concerns. Her visa had been revoked days before her arrest, though she hadn't been notified that was the case.
Earlier this week, Sessions, the federal judge in Vermont, raised the specter of a 'constitutional crisis' in the case.
In the courthouse Monday, a government lawyer argued that Sessions had no authority to weigh in on Öztürk's detention, which is pending in the separate immigration court system. But Sessions pointed to a conflict of jurisdictional issues between the immigration system and the District Court. The immigration court makes decisions in the realm of removal proceedings. The District Court hears questions of due process and unlawful detentions.
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At the time, Sessions said that if he were to find that Öztürk's arrest was unconstitutional and order her release, only for the government to say she can't be released, then 'we're in a constitutional crisis.'
Sarah Sherman-Stokes, an immigration lawyer and associate director of the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Clinic at Boston University School of Law, said that while it's a common practice for ICE to transfer people around the country, it's also common for federal judges to order them returned.
'Different courts have different decision-making authority,' Sherman-Stokes said. 'In this case what is different is that the federal government seemed determined to move her out of the reach of New England. That felt purposeful.'
In his ruling, Sessions wrote that the government's argument on his judicial authority in the case versus the immigration court 'grants practically limitless, unreviewable power to detain individuals for weeks or months, even if the detention is patently unconstitutional.'
In an affidavit, Öztürk, 30, said
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Öztürk said she experienced several asthma attacks during her journey from Somerville to Louisiana and made multiple requests to speak with her attorney that were denied, according to the affidavit. She was not allowed access to a lawyer for more than 24 hours after she was apprehended, the affidavit said.
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at