Judge releases the Turkish Tufts University student who was detained by ICE to continue her studies

A federal judge in Vermont on Friday released a Turkish Tufts University student detained in a Louisiana immigration center more than six weeks after she was arrested while walking along a street in a Boston suburb, allowing her to return to her studies.

U.S. District Judge William Sessions in Burlington released Rumeysa Ozturk pending a final decision on her claim that she’s been illegally detained following an op-ed she co-wrote last year that criticized the school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Her immigration proceedings in Louisiana also will continue separately.

Ozturk detailed her growing asthma attacks in detention and her desire to finish her doctorate degree focusing on children and social media while appearing remotely at her bail hearing from the Louisiana center. She and her lawyer hugged after hearing the judge’s decision on Friday.

“Completing my PhD is very important to me,” she said. She had been on track to finish her work in December when she was arrested.

Lawyers for Ozturk, 30, said her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.

Ozturk was to be released on her own recognizance with no travel restrictions, Sessions said. He said she is not a danger to the community or a flight risk, but that he might amend his release order to consider any specific conditions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in consultation with her lawyers.

He said he didn’t think electronic monitoring would be in order, and that she would also have at least monthly contact with a staffer of the Burlington Community Justice Center to report on how she’s doing, and her current and future plans.

The idea is for her to try to reintegrate into her community “after what has been a very traumatic event and incident,” Sessions said.

“This is a woman who is just totally committed to her academic career,” Sessions said. “This is someone who probably doesn’t have a whole lot of other things going on other than reaching out to other members of the community in a caring and compassionate way.”

He said the government has not offered additional evidence: “There is no evidence here as to the motivation absent consideration of the op-ed.”

A message seeking comment was emailed Friday afternoon to the U.S. Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Sessions told Acting U.S. Atty. Michael Drescher that he wants to know immediately when she is released.

Sessions said Ozturk raised serious concerns about her 1st Amendment and due process rights, as well as her health.

Ozturk on Friday said the first of 12 asthma attacks came on at the Atlanta airport while she was waiting to be taken to Louisiana. The attack was severe, and she did not have all her medications.

“I was afraid, and I was crying,” she said.

A doctor who spoke with Ozturk said her condition could worsen if she is left in detention and could require emergency care.

The U.S. Justice Department said an immigration court in Louisiana, which is conducting separate removal proceedings regarding Ozturk, has jurisdiction over her case.

Sessions ordered Ozturk’s transfer to Vermont, where she was last confined before she was taken to Louisiana. The government requested a delay, but a federal appeals court upheld his decision Wednesday, ordering Ozturk to be transferred to ICE custody in Vermont no later than May 14.

Ozturk waived her right to appear in court in person, agreeing to move on with the hearing and participate remotely.

Immigration officials surrounded Ozturk in Massachusetts on March 25 and drove her to New Hampshire and Vermont before putting her on a plane to a detention center in Basile, La. Her student visa had been revoked several days earlier, but she was not informed of that, her lawyers said.

Ozturk’s lawyers first filed a petition on her behalf in Massachusetts, but they did not know where she was and were unable to speak to her until more than 24 hours after she was detained. A Massachusetts judge later transferred the case to Vermont.

Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, the Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Ozturk said Friday that if she is released, Tufts would offer her housing and her lawyers and friends would drive her to future court hearings.

“I will follow all the rules,” she said.

A State Department memo said Ozturk’s visa was revoked following an assessment that her actions ” ‘may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization’ including co-authoring an op-ed that found common cause with an organization that was later temporarily banned from campus.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in March, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

“When did speaking up against oppression become a crime? When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?” said Mahsa Khanbabai, one of Ozturk’s attorneys. “I am thankful that the courts have been ruling in favor of detained political prisoners, like Rumeysa.”

McCormack writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.