Photo: WBZ NewsRadio
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A Vermont federal judge ordered Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk to be released from ICE custody immediately Friday.
ICE agents took Ozturk off the streets of Somerville in late March and transferred her to a Louisiana detention center. The Trump administration also canceled her student visa.
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The White House accuses the Turkish student of engaging in activities in support of Hamas, citing an op-ed she co-wrote last year criticizing Tufts's response to student protests on campus and calling on the university to divest from Israel. Her lawyers argue that she has not been charged with any crime and is being persecuted for protected speech.
Ozturk appeared virtually at a bail hearing in a Burlington, Vermont courtroom Friday, saying her six weeks at the detention center has hurt her health and led to increasingly severe asthma attacks.
A medical expert vouched for Ozturk's diagnosis and explained how her detention makes it much harder for her to control her symptoms.
The court also heard from Ozturk's doctoral advisor at Tufts, who called Ozturk a model student and an asset to the school's community.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Williams Sessions agreed with Ozturk's lawyers that her First Amendment and due process rights were violated when she was detained, and noted that the only evidence the government presented in the case was the op-ed.
Sessions granted Ozturk bail with no travel restrictions, allowing her to return to her home in Somerville and continue her studies as removal proceedings continue.
"We’re pleased that the court has approved Rumeysa’s request to be released on bail, and we look forward to welcoming her back to campus to resume her doctoral studies," a Tufts spokesperson told WBZ NewsRadio. "As we have noted previously, Rumeysa is a student in good standing, and nothing in her co-authored op-ed of March 26, 2024, in The Tufts Daily student newspaper violated either the university’s gatherings, protests, and demonstrations policy or its Declaration on Freedom of Expression. We hope that she is able to rejoin our community as soon as possible."