On March 25, 2025, Rümeysa Öztürk, a PhD student at Tufts University, was grabbed, arrested, and detained in Somerville by plainclothes federal agents in apparent retaliation for an op-ed she co-authored in a student newspaper. Ms. Öztürk is a former Fulbright scholar who came to the United States on a student visa.
Her attorney immediately filed a habeas petition, and a judge ordered Ms. Öztürk not to be removed from Massachusetts without prior notice. For nearly 24 hours, Ms. Öztürk’s attorney was unable to locate her. On March 26, government counsel informed her that Ms. Öztürk had been transferred to Louisiana – over 1,300 miles from her community.
On April 4, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Ms. Öztürk's federal case should continue in Vermont.
On April 17, an immigration judge in Louisiana denied Ms. Öztürk bond. The government’s entire case against her is based on the same one-paragraph memo from the State Department to ICE that just points back to an op-ed in a student newspaper. This decision only underscores the need for the federal court to intervene on her behalf and order her release as soon as possible.
On April 18, the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont ruled that Rümeysa Öztürk’s federal case should continue in Vermont and that the government should transfer her back to a facility in Vermont no later than May 1. The court stayed its order for four days to allow either party to appeal. The court also set a bail hearing for May 9 and a hearing on the merits of the habeas petition on May 22.
Ms. Öztürk is represented 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.