A federal judge in Vermont will hear arguments Monday on the legality of Rümeysa Öztürk’s detention at a Louisiana immigration facility the Tufts University PhD student described as “unsanitary, unsafe, and inhumane.”
The hearing for Öztürk – whom the US government has accused of being “engaged in activities in support of Hamas” – comes as the Washington Post reports a State Department office failed to find evidence tying her to antisemitism or terrorism just days before she was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The finding was detailed last month in a memo that does not name the State Department office purportedly involved, the Washington Post report says. Besides pointing to the lack of evidence against Öztürk, the memo noted her name was not associated with any terrorism-related information during a search of US government databases, according to the Post, citing government officials briefed on the memo.
The 30-year-old former Fulbright scholar, who’s originally from Turkey and has been in the US on an F-1 student visa, was detained nearly three weeks ago by masked officers near her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts.
The government has not specified what the alleged activities “in support of Hamas” were. Her lawyers say she is unfairly being punished for speaking out in favor of Palestinian rights.
Öztürk is one of several international university students facing deportation as the Trump administration takes aim at pro-Palestinian protesters and activists on college campuses. The arrests of scholars and students at the hands of masked law enforcement officers – who have taken them into custody by ambushing them on city streets and near their homes – have sent a chill across the international student community.
The Department of Homeland Security originally asked the State Department to cancel Öztürk’s visa under a legal authority meant to safeguard US foreign policy interests, according to the Washington Post, but the State Department memo said Secretary of State Marco Rubio lacked the grounds to do that. The State Department said the visa could still be revoked without using that particular legal authority because the Immigration and Nationality Act gives the secretary of state complete discretion to do so.
CNN reached out to DHS and the State Department for comment on the Washington Post report.
After her arrest, Öztürk was shuttled through four states and suffered an asthma attack before ending up at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile – more than 1,500 miles away from home.
In Monday’s hearing, her attorneys are asking Vermont District Judge William K. Sessions III to rule that the Vermont district court is the appropriate venue to hear the case since it’s the last place she was taken before a final transfer to Louisiana.
They have also asked for Öztürk to be immediately released, saying she is not a flight risk or danger to the community, and she lacked access to asthma medicine in detention. Öztürk had four asthma attacks while in custody, according to her written declaration filed Thursday.
The Trump administration argued the federal district judge has no authority to consider a challenge to the government’s effort to deport Öztürk.
“The federal immigration laws strip district courts of jurisdiction over the sorts of governmental decisions challenged in the Petition, including the revocation of Petitioner’s student visa and ICE’s decision to initiate removal proceedings,” acting US Attorney Michael Drescher wrote in a court filing.
‘Afraid for My Safety’
A week before her arrest, Öztürk had spoken to a lawyer because she was worried for her safety. She was afraid she would be targeted because a pro-Israel website accused her of being a terrorist sympathizer and published her photo along with personal information.
Six plainclothes officers surrounded Öztürk in late March, neighborhood surveillance video appears to show. The officers did not show their badges until she was restrained, the video shows. When the men approached her, she didn’t realize they were government officials.
“I thought they were people who had doxxed me and I was afraid for my safety,” she wrote in a signed statement filed with the court.
Once she was taken to an SUV, they told her she was being arrested but wouldn’t explain why.
At one point, the officers removed her from the car and shackled her feet and belly before putting her in a different car, she said.
Öztürk said she repeatedly asked to speak with her attorney, but was denied or told she would be able to later. She told the officers she would remain silent after they asked for her name.
“We are not monsters,” the officer told her after she asked if she was safe. “We do what the government tells us.”
They told Öztürk they would be taking her to Vermont because there were no detention centers in Massachusetts for women, she recounted.
“For nearly 24 hours, her attorney was unable to locate her as ICE agents moved Ms. Öztürk from Somerville to Methuen, MA; then, to Lebanon, NH; and finally, to St. Albans, VT, where she was held in a detention cell overnight before being put on an early morning flight from Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport to Louisiana the next day,” said the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing her in the case.
Öztürk, who had been on her way to break her 13-hour Ramadan fast with friends when she was arrested, asked officers for a meal. They told her they couldn’t provide one but gave her two packets of crackers and water. She said she didn’t drink or eat because she was worried they could have poisoned them.
“I was afraid that
