Legal Team Urges Federal Court to Promptly Bring Her Back to New England.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2025
MEDIA CONTACTS:
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ACLU of Massachusetts, [email protected]
ACLU of Vermont, [email protected]
LOUISIANA — An immigration court yesterday denied bond to Rümeysa Öztürk, a former Fulbright scholar and current Ph.D. student at Tufts University, who the Trump administration targeted for arrest, detention, and deportation in retaliation for an op-ed she co-authored in her student newspaper.
Ms. Öztürk, who has not been accused of any crime, was taken by plainclothes ICE agents in Somerville, Massachusetts on March 25. For nearly 24 hours, Ms. Öztürk’s attorney was unable to locate her as ICE quickly and quietly moved her to three separate locations in three different states — including Vermont — before shipping her to Louisiana.
“Yesterday was a complete violation of due process and the rule of law. The immigration courts are cowering to the Trump administration's attempts to silence advocates of Palestinian rights,” said attorney Marty Rosenbluth. “The government’s entire case against Rümeysa is based on the same one-paragraph memo from the State Department to ICE that just points back to Rümeysa’s op-ed.”
“Yesterday’s decision is exactly why we are fighting for the federal courts to intervene in Ms. Öztürk’s immigration case,” said Mahsa Khanbabai of Khanbabai Immigration Law. “Ms. Öztürk has committed no crime and DHS has provided zero evidence in their case against her. Despite that, the court yesterday relied on a previously submitted State Department memo that points to nothing that Ms. Öztürk said or did — other than her 2024 school newspaper op-ed — to falsely claim she is a danger to her community. This attack on free speech is despicable, but we won’t be deterred. We will keep fighting until Ms. Öztürk is safely returned home to Massachusetts.”
This immigration judge ruling comes nearly two weeks after a federal court ruled that the federal case should be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, instead of Louisiana. In a new filing in her federal case, her legal team urges a federal judge in Vermont to, in light of the immigration court developments and ongoing risks to her health, order that Ms. Öztürk be released or at least returned to Vermont by April 18.
Ms. Öztürk is represented in immigration court by Mahsa Khanbabai and Marty Rosenbluth, and in federal court by Mahsa Khanbabai, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Massachusetts, ACLU of Vermont, CLEAR, and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP.
The following are quotes from the rest of Ms. Öztürk’s legal team:
Jessie Rossman, Legal Director, ACLU of Massachusetts:
“The fight to bring Rümeysa Öztürk back to Massachusetts is not over. There is absolutely no basis for the immigration court's decision to keep Rümeysa behind bars over 1,300 miles away from her friends, community, and counsel. Once again, the government's solitary submission in that proceeding made clear that Rümeysa was arrested, transported, and detained solely because she authored an op-ed in her student newspaper. This week, hundreds of people gathered outside of her federal court hearing in Vermont to stand up and say this is unacceptable. Together, we will continue to press for Rümeysa’s rightful release in federal court.”
Lia Ernst, Legal Director, ACLU of Vermont:
“Rümeysa’s nightmarish experience at the hands of immigration officials has been nothing short of abhorrent, and last night’s decision by an immigration judge to keep her imprisoned is no exception. Our client has now been deprived of her most basic freedoms for 23 days for writing an op-ed. This decision only underscores the need for the federal court to intervene on her behalf and order her release as soon as possible.”
Naz Ahmad, Co-director, CLEAR:
“Yesterday’s decision to keep Ms. Ozturk detained 1,300 miles away from her community, solely for co-authoring an op-ed should be a siren call for all who care about free speech. The hearing, which most of Ms. Ozturk’s legal team were prevented from observing, and its result, were a shocking outlier even in a system well-known for providing a shoddy form of due process.”
Vasudha Talla, Of Counsel, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP:
“The immigration court’s decision yesterday is an insult to the idea of due process. It is also an unfortunately predictable outcome given the government’s unconstitutional crackdown on First Amendment-protected speech. Our fight continues in federal court, where the judge does not serve at the pleasure of the executive.”
For documents and other case information, see here.
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