Rumesya Ozturk, a Turkish national and doctoral student, is among several international students facing deportation due to Palestinian activities.
A federal judge on Friday refused the government’s request to allow the case of a Tufts University student to proceed in Vermont and move the case to Louisiana, where students are currently in custody.
In such cases, the Trump administration has invoked the same immigration law provisions that allow foreigners to be deported if the Secretary of State has justified reason for their presence or activity in the United States to bring about “potentially serious and unfavorable foreign policy implications” to the country.
On the day Ozturk was taken into custody, her attorney filed a petition in federal court in Boston seeking her immediate release. The government argued that it was invalid as ICE had already transported Oztalk to Vermont before a judge who did not want her to move, before ICE issued an order for her removal without proper notice for her removal from Massachusetts.
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Sauter also said that Massachusetts courts do not have jurisdiction to consider the case and order the relief requested. He urged the court to not dismiss the petition and to move the case to the Western District of Louisiana, where Ozturk is currently in custody.
“The irregularity of arrest, detention and disposal here coupled with the government’s failure to disclose Ozurk’s location, even after he knew that she had an attorney and realized that the petition had been filed in this court,” the judge wrote.
“In order for Ozturk to have the opportunity to secure and maintain the status quo in the Vermont area, this court’s order on March 28, 2025 prohibiting the government from removing her from the United States will remain in effect unless ordered by the assignee’s court,” her order read.
“Let’s be clear. Lu Messa should not have been arrested or detained by the ice in the first place. Most importantly, our ongoing fight to ensure her immediate release and safe return.”
The Ozturk incident unfolds in a broader effort by the Trump administration to deport foreign students involved in protesting Israeli military campaigns in Gaza. Hamas is a terrorist organization designated by the United States.
A year before her detention, Oztalk was listed as a co-author of a student newspaper article that urged the university to turn down economic ties with Israel.
In her work, Ozturk and her co-authors described the resolution as “an honest effort to hold Israel accountable” for what has been characterized as “an indiscriminate massacre of Palestinian civilians.”
It is not immediately clear whether she was engaged in other forms of pro-Palestinian activities beyond this manipulation.
