US judge considers release of Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk, plans hearing in May

A U.S. federal judge in Vermont said Monday that he is considering whether to release Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk from detention or to schedule a hearing in May as she challenges her detention by U.S. immigration authorities.

Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and Ph.D. student in child and human development at Tufts University, was detained on March 25 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents outside her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Her arrest followed online targeting by the pro-Israel website Canary Mission, which criticized her for co-authoring an op-ed in the Tufts campus newspaper that condemned the university’s response to Israel’s assault on Gaza.

The attack, which took place earlier this year, resulted in nearly 51,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Ozturk’s lawyers argue her arrest and continued detention violate her constitutional rights, including her First Amendment right to free speech and Fifth Amendment protections.

They are requesting her release on bail or her transfer from a detention facility in Basile, Louisiana, to Vermont, where her legal team filed an emergency habeas petition the night of her arrest.

“These were unusual steps designed to punish Ms. Ozturk for her protected speech—to chill her speech and send a chilling message to everyone who was watching,” said Jessie Rossman, one of Ozturk’s attorneys, during the hearing. “If you engage in speech the administration disagrees with, you will be punished.”

Ozturk’s legal team is pushing for her release on bail or for a court order that would bring her from Louisiana to Vermont. She was briefly held in Vermont before being transferred south, where her legal team filed an emergency petition after her arrest.

Turkish academic Rumeysa Ozturk detained by US authorities after being targeted by pro-Israel groups for Palestine protests

◼️ Ozturk recently co-authored article condemning Israel's actions in Gaza

◼️She now faces deportation despite holding a valid F-1 visa pic.twitter.com/XEzbZobcXK

— Türkiye Today (@turkiyetodaycom) March 26, 2025

Legal team pushing for her release

During Monday’s hearing, Judge Sessions and government attorneys debated whether the court has jurisdiction over Ozturk’s detention while removal proceedings are ongoing, as well as whether her legal petition correctly identified the appropriate immigration officials.

The judge indicated that he is considering holding an evidentiary hearing in May to examine the circumstances surrounding Ozturk’s arrest and detention.

Ozturk’s lawyers pointed to a Washington Post investigation published Sunday, which revealed that the U.S. State Department had found no evidence linking Ozturk to antisemitic activities or terrorism. Despite this, she was arrested days later, and has now been detained for nearly a month.

“She is desperate to return to Tufts to continue her education,” Rossman said, adding that the court had received “nearly two dozen sworn declarations” affirming her commitment to her studies and disproving claims that she poses a flight risk or danger to the community.

“The government has been on notice that the petitioner has been requesting bail now for over two weeks, but there has been no submission from them, and we have no reason to believe they would be able to do so,” Rossman added.

Ozturk, a Turkish national in the final year of her PhD, has not been charged with any crime.

Last month, Republican Senator Marco Rubio defended the revocation of her student visa, stating: “We give you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses.”

The Department of Homeland Security has claimed that Ozturk engaged in activities supporting Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. However, the government has not yet presented evidence to support this claim.