ICE-Detained Pro-Palestinian Tufts Student Must Be Moved to Vermont, Judge Rules

The student published an op-ed calling for her university to cut off financial ties with Israel.

In this image taken from security camera footage, Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, is detained by Department of Homeland Security agents on a street in Sommerville, Mass., on March 26, 2025. AP Photo

U.S. District Judge William Sessions issued an order on April 18 ruling that Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk be moved to Vermont from Louisiana per her request.

Ozturk, 30, a Turkish national involved in pro-Palestinian activities, was detained by federal immigration authorities in Massachusetts on March 25 after her visa was revoked.

According to the court filing, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took Ozturk to New Hampshire shortly after apprehending her in Massachusetts. That evening, she was taken to the ICE Field Office in St. Albans, Vermont.

Ozturk was finally transferred to a detention center in Louisiana. The reason for moving Oztruk remain unclear. The Epoch Times reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. A spokesperson for Homeland Security previously said the agency had investigated Ozturk and learned that she “engaged in activities in support of Hamas.” Ozturk received an F-1 visa to study in the United States.

Her initial petition was filed in the District of Massachusetts. As she was detained in Vermont at the time of filing, the district court in Massachusetts transferred the case to the District of Vermont.

“The instant matter concerns the government’s motion to dismiss this case. The parties dispute whether this Court has jurisdiction to grant Ms. Ozturk the relief she requests,” Sessions, from the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, wrote in the court order.

Ozturk filed a habeas petition against multiple government officials, including President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, arguing that “she was arrested and detained in violation of her First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights and the Administrative Procedure Act.”

A habeas petition is used to bring a detainee before a court to determine whether the detention is lawful.

The government argued for the petition to be dismissed, saying the proper forum for the case was the Western District of Louisiana, where Ozturk is currently being confined.

In support of her First Amendment violation claims, Ozturk submitted evidence to allege that the government’s actions against her were of a retaliatory nature as the “only identifiable conduct supporting her detention is her coauthoring of a Tufts University op-ed,” the judge wrote.

The op-ed, published a year ago in the student newspaper Tufts Daily, criticized university president Sunil Kumar for his “dismissive” response to student government resolutions, which called on the institution to acknowledge the “Palestinian genocide.”

It asked the university to cut financial ties with Israel following the country’s military retaliation after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.

The court observed that the government “has submitted no evidence to counter her First Amendment claim.”

Ozturk asked the court that she be released on bail pending the outcome of the habeas review. The government countered this by saying that a bail or bond can only be sought from an immigration judge.

Alternatively, Ozturk requested that she be returned to Vermont, where she can work with her counsel and prepare legal claims.

Assessing arguments put forward by the two sides, Sessions wrote in the order that the court “has jurisdiction” to consider Ozturk’s habeas petition.

“The Court further finds that Ms. Ozturk has raised significant constitutional concerns with her arrest and detention which merit full and fair consideration in this forum,” the order stated.

“Accordingly, the Court denies the government’s request to dismiss the Petition and orders that Ms. Ozturk be transferred to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) custody within the District of Vermont pending further hearings on this matter.”

Absent an appeal, the judge’s order goes into effect in four days. Sessions also scheduled arguments on the merits of Ozturk’s case for May 22.

Recently, multiple international students have faced deportation under the Trump administration for their alleged ties with pro-Palestinian activities.

One such individual is Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, with officials informally alleging that he was engaged in “activities aligned with Hamas.” Another person, Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow, was accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda.”

In late March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified the decision to revoke Ozturk’s visa while speaking to reporters.

“If you go apply for a visa anywhere in the world ... to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us the reason you’re coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we’re not going to give you a visa,” he said.

“If you lie to us and get a visa and then enter the United States, and with that visa participate in that sort of activity, we’re going to take away your visa. And once you’ve lost your visa, you’re no longer legally in the United States, and we have a right—like every country has a right—to remove you from our country.”

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.