A federal judge in Boston is set to hold a hearing on Thursday concerning the case of a Tufts University Ph.D. student who was taken into custody in Massachusetts and subsequently transferred by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities to Louisiana last week.
In a filing on Tuesday, the government argued that Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student and Fulbright Scholar, had already been removed from Massachusetts prior to U.S. District Judge Denise Casper issuing an order for her to remain in the state, asserting that Casper no longer has jurisdiction in the matter.
Ozturk’s attorneys had submitted a habeas petition to prevent her removal from both Massachusetts and the U.S. itself, which a federal judge granted. However, the Justice Department’s Tuesday filing indicated that she had already been moved to an ICE detention facility in Basile, Louisiana.
An official from the acting Homeland Security Department provided a sworn statement indicating that Ozturk was arrested on March 25 in Somerville, Massachusetts, the location of Tufts University, and subsequently transported to Lebanon, New Hampshire, then St. Albans, Vermont, overnight. Early on March 26, she was moved again at 4 a.m. to Burlington, Vermont, before ultimately being transferred to the ICE detention center in Basile. The judge’s order blocking her removal from Massachusetts was issued while she was in Vermont.
Ozturk, who holds a student visa in the U.S., was detained while en route to a Ramadan Iftar dinner. Surveillance footage captured six plainclothes ICE agents, reportedly wearing masks, stopping her on the street and taking her into custody.
She is among several students at American universities whose visas have been revoked after expressing support for Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Ozturk’s legal team contends that her detention infringes on her constitutional rights to free speech and due process, and they have requested her immediate return to Massachusetts and release from government custody.
On Wednesday, Tufts President Sunil Kumar submitted a declaration supporting Ozturk and her motion for release and return to Massachusetts. Kumar stated that the university “has no information to support the allegations that she was involved in activities at Tufts that would justify her arrest and detention.”
He explained that on March 26, Tufts received a notice labeling Ozturk as a “‘non-immigrant status violator,'” citing the Immigration and Naturalization Act, and claiming that “the United States believed that her presence in the country could lead to ‘potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.’
Ozturk was one of four students at Tufts University who co-wrote an op-ed in the Tufts Daily college newspaper in March 2024, urging the university to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and to “divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.” Notably, there is no mention of Hamas in the article. Kumar asserted that the op-ed aligned with the university’s free speech policies, indicating that there were “opinions that were shared just as strongly” on opposing sides of the issue.
“The University has no additional information indicating that she acted in a manner that would contravene the University’s interpretation of the Immigration and Naturalization Act,” Kumar asserted. He urged that Ozturk “receive the due process rights to which she is entitled,” enabling her to return to Tufts to complete her studies and pursue her degree.
At the time of Ozturk’s detention, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security claimed she “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” yet did not provide specifics regarding her alleged actions. The government’s filing on Tuesday also lacked details concerning any purported connections to Hamas.
The Justice Department’s assertion about jurisdiction—that the arguments related to the habeas petition should occur in the location where the individual is detained—has been an approach utilized by the government in other court cases tied to the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, including the case of former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil and in instances involving five Venezuelan men who sought to block their deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has praised the administration for revoking over 300 student visas thus far, asserting that student visas are intended to promote education and degree attainment, “not to become a social activist” and “disrupt our university campuses.”
