A Tufts University student named Rumeysa Ozturk has been stuck in detention for five long weeks now. This news comes from a federal appeals court in New York, which decided to hold off on a judge’s order to bring Ozturk back to New England from a Louisiana immigration detention center. The court made this decision so they could take a look at an emergency motion filed by the government.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that a panel of three judges would hear arguments on May 6 regarding Ozturk’s case. The 30-year-old doctoral student has been in custody for quite some time now and the situation is getting quite intense. A district court judge in Vermont had previously ordered that Ozturk be brought back to the state by Thursday for hearings to determine whether her detention was lawful or not. Ozturk’s legal team argues that her detention goes against her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.
The U.S. Justice Department is not backing down though, as they are appealing the district court’s ruling. They claim that an immigration court in Louisiana has the authority to handle Ozturk’s case. According to government lawyers, federal-court jurisdiction over immigration matters is limited by Congress, and the Vermont judge’s order is not in line with these restrictions.
Ozturk’s lawyers are not happy with this emergency motion and are pushing back. They released a statement saying that the temporary pause requested by the government could drag on for months. The situation is getting quite messy and it seems like there’s no end in sight for Ozturk’s detention.
Immigration officials nabbed Ozturk on the streets of a Boston suburb back on March 25. They then transported her to New Hampshire and Vermont before ultimately sending her to a detention center in Basile, Louisiana. Ozturk made headlines last year when she and three other students penned an op-ed in the Tufts Daily, criticizing the university’s response to student activists’ demands related to Israel.
The Department of Homeland Security dropped a bombshell in March, claiming that Ozturk had ties to a U.S.-designated terrorist group, Hamas. This accusation was made without any concrete evidence, further complicating Ozturk’s already precarious situation.
As the legal battle continues, Ozturk remains in detention, her fate hanging in the balance. The case has garnered significant attention and support from various advocacy groups, adding more pressure on the government to resolve the issue. The coming days will be crucial in determining Ozturk’s future and whether she will be able to return to her studies at Tufts University.
