Rümeysa Öztürk's return to Vermont delayed by federal appeals court
Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:03 a.m. on April 29, 2025 to add a comment from Rümeysa Öztürk's legal team.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit paused a court order requiring Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk to be brought to Vermont pending a hearing next week.
A Vermont District Court judge ordered Öztürk to be brought from Louisiana, where she is detained, to Vermont by May 1, to facilitate a hearing on her petition challenging her detention.
Federal prosecutors appealed that decision, and asked Judge William K. Sessions III to pause his order while their appeal was pending. Sessions denied the request.
But the Second Circuit Court of Appeals paused Sessions' order so that a three-judge panel could review the government's appeal, which is set to be argued at a May 6 hearing. Sessions' order will remain paused until the court rules on the appeal one way or the other.
'The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion,' a brief filing reads.
Both federal prosecutors and Öztürk's lawyers could appeal the Second Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a response through the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Öztürk's legal team said their client should 'never should have been arrested and detained, period.'
'We are ready to argue her case before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and we won't stop fighting until she is free,' Öztürk's lawyers stated.
Öztürk, a 30-year-old Turkish national, has been in federal custody since March 25, when plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested her on the street and whisked her away to New Hampshire, then Vermont, and finally Louisiana. She has yet to be charged with a crime.
Öztürk's lawyers claim the Trump administration revoked her student visa without warning because she co-authored a pro-Palestinian op-ed in Tufts' student newspaper last year. Federal officials say she supports Hamas, but have not provided specific evidence to support the claim.
Öztürk has been held in a 14-person cell with two dozen other women since being moved to Louisiana. She has had multiple asthma attacks during her detention, according to her court filings.
Government 'obligated' to bring Rümeysa Öztürk to Vermont, judge rules
College news media forced to adapt to protect students afraid of deportation
Government appealing judge's order to transfer Rümeysa Öztürk to Vermont
Read the original article on MassLive.
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