Judge in Boston to hold hearing on detained Tufts Ph.D. student

Tufts pupil remains detained by ICE

What we cognize astir the Tufts University pupil detained implicit pro-Hamas accusations 04:45

A national justice successful Boston is holding a proceeding Thursday regarding a Tufts University Ph.D. pupil taken into custody successful Massachusetts and moved by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities to Louisiana past week.

The authorities claimed successful a filing Tuesday that Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral pupil and Fulbright Scholar, had already been removed from Massachusetts earlier U.S. District Judge Denise Casper issued an bid for her to enactment successful the authorities and that Casper nary longer has jurisdiction to perceive the case.

Attorneys for Ozturk had filed a habeas petition to artifact her removal from Massachusetts, arsenic good arsenic from the U.S., and a national justice granted the petition. But the Justice Department's filing Tuesday said she had already been transferred to an ICE detention halfway successful Basile, Louisiana.

An acting Homeland Security Department authoritative filed a sworn connection saying Ozturk was arrested connected March 25 successful Somerville, Massachusetts, wherever Tufts is located, and past moved to Lebanon, New Hampshire, past to St. Albans, Vermont, overnight. She was again moved astatine 4 a.m. connected March 26 to Burlington, Vermont, earlier she was yet transferred to the ICE detention halfway successful Basile. The judge's bid blocking her removal from Massachusetts was issued portion Ozturk was successful Vermont.

Ozturk, who's successful the U.S. connected a pupil visa, was detained connected her mode to a Ramadan Iftar dinner. Surveillance footage showed six plainclothes ICE agents who appeared to beryllium wearing masks stopping Ozturk connected the thoroughfare and taking her into custody. 

She's 1 of several students astatine American universities whose visas were revoked aft they expressed enactment for Palestinians during the ongoing struggle successful Gaza. Ozturk's attorneys reason her detention violates her law rights to escaped code and owed process, and person asked for her contiguous instrumentality to Massachusetts and for her to beryllium freed from authorities custody. 

On Wednesday, Tufts president Sunil Kumar submitted a declaration defending Ozturk and supporting her question regarding her merchandise and instrumentality to Massachusetts. Kumar said the assemblage "has nary accusation to enactment the allegations that she was engaged successful activities astatine Tufts that warrant her apprehension and detention."

He said that connected March 26, the assemblage received a announcement stating that Ozturk was a "'non-immigrant presumption violator'" and citing the Immigration and Naturalization Act, it said "the United States believed that her beingness successful the state would effect successful 'potentially superior adverse overseas argumentation consequences for the United States.'"

Ozturk was 1 of 4 students astatine Tufts University who co-authored an op-ed successful the Tufts Daily assemblage insubstantial successful March 2024 urging the assemblage to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide" and "divest from companies with nonstop oregon indirect ties to Israel." There is nary notation of Hamas in the article. Kumar said the op-ed was accordant with the university's escaped code policies and determination were "opinions that were shared conscionable arsenic strongly" connected different sides of the issue.

"The University has nary further accusation suggesting that she has acted successful a mode that would represent a usurpation of the University's knowing of the Immigration and Naturalization Act," Kumar wrote. He asked that Ozturk "receive the owed process rights to which she is entitled," truthful she tin instrumentality to Tufts to decorativeness her studies and her degree. 

At the clip of Ozturk's detention, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Ozturk "engaged successful activities successful enactment of Hamas," but did not supply details astir her alleged activities. The government's filing Tuesday besides contained nary details astir alleged ties to Hamas.

The Justice Department's statement regarding jurisdiction — that the habeas petition arguments should beryllium held wherever the idiosyncratic is being detained — has been utilized by the authorities successful different tribunal cases involving the Trump administration's deportation efforts, including successful the lawsuit of erstwhile Columbia pupil Mahmoud Khalil and successful the cases of 5 Venezuelan men who sued to block their deportations nether the Alien Enemies Act. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has touted the administration's cancellation of much than 300 pupil visas truthful acold and said that pupil visas are meant to promote studying and getting degrees, "not to go a societal activist" and "tear up our assemblage campuses."