Important Decision Issued Weeks After ICE Drove Ms. Öztürk to Vermont Before Sending Her to a Notorious Louisiana Detention Facility
The U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont ruled that Rümeysa Öztürk’s challenge to her unconstitutional detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 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.
Rümeysa is a former Fulbright scholar and current Ph.D. student at Tufts University. She 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. She has not been charged with any crimes. Since she’s been in ICE custody in Louisiana, Ms. Öztürk has suffered multiple asthma attacks and has yet to receive the proper medication.
Ms. Öztürk’s legal team had argued that allowing this case to play out in Louisiana — thousands of miles away from her home in Massachusetts — would reward the Trump administration’s unlawful attempt to suppress dissent and manipulate federal court jurisdiction. According to the new order from the federal court, “The government thus admits that from the time ICE agents arrested Ms. Öztürk to the time she arrived at the Louisiana detention facility, it was keeping her location a secret.”
Her lawyers also argued that she should be released immediately as she has not been charged with any crime. According to the “evidence” the government submitted, the only basis for her unlawful imprisonment was an op-ed she co-wrote with three other people in The Tufts Daily.
Since the government took Ms. Öztürk, her community at Tufts and around the country have rallied around her. Over 20 friends, colleagues, and professors, including the president of Tufts University, have sent letters of support to the court detailing Ms. Öztürk’s dedication to her work and her community and asking for her release. On April 10, for the first time in years, the Tufts Democrats and Tufts Republicans drafted and signed a joint statement condemning the Trump administration’s arrest and detention of Rümeysa Öztürk, as well as the government's broader attack on international students and the right to free speech. A coalition of Jewish organizations including J Street, Bend the Arc, JALSA, and Temple Emanu-El, has also come to Ms. Öztürk’s defense, submitting a proposed amicus brief to the court.
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 Ms. Öztürk’s legal team:
Jessie Rossman, legal director, ACLU of Massachusetts:
“With this ruling, a federal court has rightfully reaffirmed that Rümeysa Öztürk’s case belongs in Vermont — significantly closer to her friends, community, and counsel. At the same time, the judge sent a clear message that any attempt to manipulate the judiciary is simply wrong. Judge Sessions held that the government’s removal of Rümeysa from Vermont to Louisiana violated the spirit of the emergency order from the federal court in Massachusetts. This is a crucial step for upholding the rule of law in our country.”
Lia Ernst, legal director, ACLU of Vermont:
“We are grateful to Judge Sessions for understanding the urgency of Rümeysa’s circumstances and not only confirming that Vermont is the right venue to hear her case, but also ordering the government to transfer her to Vermont. Today’s ruling rightfully affirms that the government cannot undermine the justice system and attempt to manipulate a case’s jurisdiction by secretly transporting and imprisoning someone over a thousand miles from home.”
Noor Zafar, staff attorney with ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project:
“It is the fundamental job of the judiciary to stand up to this kind of government manipulation of our basic rights. We hope the court’s definitive ruling sends a strong message to other courts around the country facing government attempts to shop for favorable jurisdictions by moving people detained on unconstitutional immigration charges around and making it difficult or impossible for their lawyers to know where to seek their immediate release.”
Mahsa Khanbabai of Khanbabai Immigration Law:
“I am pleased that the federal court has ruled to bring Rümeysa home to New England and look forward to her bail hearing so she can be set free. A university op-ed advocating for human rights and freedom for the Palestinian people should not lead to imprisonment. Our immigration laws should not be manipulated to rip people away from their homes and their loved ones. This country is built on checks and balances, and I am confident that the courts will uphold our most basic and fundamental rights.”
Ramzi Kassem, co-director & founder, CLEAR:
“The court today saw through this government's dilatory tactics and its attempts at jurisdictional manipulation in a reprehensible effort to punish Rümeysa for speaking out for Palestinian human rights. By ordering Rümeysa returned to the District of Vermont, the Court vindicates not only her rights, but strikes a salutary note for our Constitution and everyone's right to speak up about the same issue. We look forward to the next steps, and will continue to push until Rümeysa is free.”
Matthew Brinckerhoff, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP:
“Ms. Öztürk is being punished for exercising the most quintessentially American right to speak out on issues of public concern in, of all places, a student newspaper. The First Amendment protects all persons on American soil. She should not have been detained for 24 seconds, much less the 24 days and counting she has endured.”
For documents and other case information, see here.
