Updated May 9, 2025 at 7:16 PM EDT
Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk has been released from a Louisiana immigration processing facility, her attorneys say, following a six-week detention and legal fight that has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s targeting of international students.
Judge William Sessions ordered her release from the bench on Friday, saying he found serious claims “of both due process and first amendment violations” in her arrest in Somerville in March.
He said Öztürk’s worsening asthma condition was a consideration of her release, as well as her need to continue her doctorate studies. He said the only evidence the government presented over the past three weeks in its fight to keep her in Louisiana was an opinion piece Öztürk wrote criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza.
“There is no evidence here,” Sessions said, other than the op-ed.
Öztürk, clad in an orange prison jumpsuit and a beige hijab, appeared at her bail hearing via video, from a small, bare, white-walled room at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center.
She’s scheduled to appear next in the Vermont court on May 22, when the judge will decide on the merits of her case that her constitutional rights were violated. This proceeding is separate from the government’s deportation case against her.
The Vermont ruling is a blow to the Trump administration’s attempt to use immigration enforcement to punish foreign-born, predominantly Muslim academics who’ve spoken up in defense of Palestinian human rights. At least 11 others in similar positions have been targeted.
Sessions declined to place a travel restriction on Öztürk, despite the government’s request. He said her academic career could require her to attend out-of-state events.
“This is a woman just totally committed to her academic career,” the judge said, calling the arrest a “traumatic event.” He found no evidence she was involved in violence or criminal activity and said she therefore presents no risk of flight.
Tufts University spokesman Mike Rodman in a statement said the school was pleased with the decision.
“We look forward to welcoming her back to campus to resume her doctoral studies,” he said, adding that “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.”
It was Öztürk’s first public appearance since her arrest on March 25, a harrowing night in which she feared for her life as immigration agents took her to New Hampshire, Vermont and then Louisiana. She was unaware that her student visa had been revoked days earlier.
On Friday, she was calm and composed as she answered numerous questions from lawyers and the judge about her medical condition, which she said has grown worse in the crowded quarters at the immigration jail where she’s been held for six weeks.
“So you think the frequency and the seriousness of these attacks has increased because of your exposure to such things as cleaning supplies, etcetera?” Sessions asked.
“Yes,” she replied. “I am indicating that both the duration, intensity and frequency has increased because of the constant triggers surrounding me and also stressful environment that I’m living in right now.”
The government offered no witnesses and asked no questions of Öztürk herself. In court Friday, Michael Drescher, acting U.S. Attorney for Vermont, reiterated the government’s jurisdictional arguments
“We continue to assert that this court is neither the right forum nor is this the right time for hearing this claim,” he said.
But multiple federal judges disagreed with that argument, including the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, which ruled this week that immigration officials should return Öztürk to Vermont by next Wednesday. The Department of Homeland Security suggested it planned to fight that ruling. But under Friday’s order, Öztürk is free to live in Massachusetts and travel to Vermont for hearings.
Asked about the judge’s comments Friday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “Lower level judges should not be dictating the foreign policy of the United States,” reiterating prior statements that “it is a privilege, not a right, to come into this country on a visa.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, in a statement to WBUR, called Öztürk’s release “a welcome step toward justice.” But, she noted, “This is just the first victory in a long legal road ahead,” for someone “wrongly targeted by the federal administration because of her political views.”
Nearly two dozen Tufts colleagues submitted affidavits of support on behalf of Öztürk in her legal fight. In interviews with WBUR, friends recalled how she fostered a tight knit community at the school’s Interfaith Center, helping organize weekly gatherings, volunteer shifts at homeless shelters and fitness classes for stressed-out PhD students.
“Rümeysa is just best described as a sweet, caring soul,” said Najiba Akbar, a former Muslim chaplain at Tufts. “But along with that, she is someone who has the courage to speak up. She might appear shy, but she also has a boldness about her.”
One of her attorneys said in court that the government’s alleged retaliation for the exercise of free speech “sends a chilling message to everyone who’s watching.”
Members of the Massachusetts congressional delegations had visited Öztürk last month in Louisiana and pressed for her release. In a statement Friday, Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Jim McGovern said, “Let us be clear: Rümeysa should have never been abducted off the streets of Somerville, had her visa revoked, and been moved to a detention site more than 1,500 miles away, all in violation of her constitutional rights.”
They added, “This is a victory for Rümeysa, for justice, and for our democracy.”
WBUR’s Patrick Madden contributed to this report.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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