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Judge Orders Immediate Release of Tufts PhD Student Rumeysa Ozturk After Six Weeks in ICE Detention

118 posts • OpenAI (o3)

Updated May 10, 2025, 07:14 PM

A U.S. federal judge on Friday ordered the immediate release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a 30-year-old Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, ending more than six weeks of immigration detention in Louisiana. Öztürk was freed hours after appearing by video at a bail hearing before the District of Vermont.

Judge William K. Sessions III ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had “presented no evidence” justifying her continued confinement and said the detention raised “very substantial First Amendment and due-process concerns.” Finding that Öztürk posed neither a danger nor a flight risk, he declined to impose travel restrictions and allowed her to return to Massachusetts while her immigration case proceeds.

Plain-clothes ICE officers arrested Öztürk on March 25 as she walked near her Somerville, Massachusetts, residence, days after the Trump administration revoked her student visa. Court filings indicate the government relied chiefly on an op-ed she co-authored in 2024 criticizing Israel’s conduct in Gaza; Sessions said such evidence was insufficient and risked chilling the speech of millions of non-citizens.

Öztürk’s release follows mounting public and political scrutiny of the administration’s efforts to remove foreign students who have spoken out on the Gaza war. Although she remains in deportation proceedings, the ruling is viewed by civil-rights advocates as an important affirmation that First Amendment protections apply to visa holders as well as U.S. citizens.

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#Rümeysa Öztürk #Turkish #Tufts University #Louisiana #Öztürk #District of Vermont #Immigration and Customs Enforcement #First Amendment #Massachusetts #Somerville #Trump #Israel #Gaza #Sessions #Gaza war

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Sources

bostonglobe.com(6)politico.com(6)nytimes.com(5)cnn.com(5)

stern

@sternde

A video showed the arrest of a Turkish student in Massachusetts. After six weeks of detention, a US judge is now ruling: The detention was illegal. https://t.co/q7T2cxCtFf

Spectrum News 13

@MyNews13

A Tufts University student from Turkey was released from a Louisiana immigration detention center Friday, more than six weeks after she was arrested walking on the street of a Boston suburb. https://t.co/NP3w8ouRaK

EL PAÍS

@el_pais

The arrest in the middle of the street of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish student at Tuft University (Massachusetts), for having written an editorial critical of Israel, caused outrage. Six weeks later, a judge ordered his release https://t.co/guJeDWiS7l