Updated May 9
Rümeysa Öztürk was released on bail from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana on Friday, a few hours after a Vermont judge ordered that she be released.
U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III ordered Friday that Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk be released from the custody of Immigration Customs and Enforcement. She has been held at a detention facility in Basile, La., since her detainment on March 25. Sessions ordered that Öztürk may return to her home in Somerville and is allowed to travel freely within Massachusetts and Vermont.
Friday’s bail hearing came after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration had until May 14 to comply with a district court’s order to transfer Öztürk to immigration custody in Vermont.
Sessions said in the hearing that since the administration had not presented any evidence for her detainment aside from the op-ed she co-authored last year, there was no merit to their claim that she was engaging in violent activity.
A federal immigration judge in Louisiana denied bond for Öztürk during a hearing last month after her counsel asked the judge to release her for the duration of her immigration case. The Department of Homeland Security only presented a State Department memo revoking her student visa to support their opposition to Öztürk’s bond request in that hearing, Öztürk’s lawyers said.
DHS said in its memo that Öztürk was involved in associations that “may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization.”
Sessions found that Öztürk’s legal team raised significant claims that the federal government had violated her First Amendment and due process rights when she was taken into ICE custody in March.
Öztürk participated in the hearing and testified remotely from Louisiana. During the hearing, Öztürk described the facility’s conditions, saying that she has now suffered 12 asthma attacks since she was detained, which have worsened her condition.
Öztürk suffered an asthma attack while her doctor was testifying before the court and was temporarily excused to get her inhaler.
Sessions will hear arguments concerning the merits of Öztürk’s habeas petition in a separate hearing on May 22. The case is a challenge to her detention after the Trump administration revoked her student visa, separate from her immigration case.
