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| Judge considers release on bail of Tufts student battling deportation order | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested for political speech and is being held in Louisiana, where she says she’s suffered multiple asthma attacks | Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested for political speech and is being held in Louisiana, where she says she’s suffered multiple asthma attacks |
| A federal judge in Vermont on Friday morning was presiding over a hearing to consider the release on bail of a Tufts University student arrested in March for her political speech and now held in Louisiana in what she and her lawyers argue is a breach of her constitutional rights. | |
| The judge had ordered Rümeysa Öztürk’s return to Vermont, where she was briefly held after being grabbed on the street by masked immigration agents near Boston, for hearings. But the judge decided not to wait for her physical transportation and she was due to appear remotely at the hearing on Friday. | The judge had ordered Rümeysa Öztürk’s return to Vermont, where she was briefly held after being grabbed on the street by masked immigration agents near Boston, for hearings. But the judge decided not to wait for her physical transportation and she was due to appear remotely at the hearing on Friday. |
| On 25 March, Öztürk, 30, a Turkish national and PhD student studying child development, was bundled into an unmarked car by agents to be taken away without due process and is battling a deportation order issued by the Trump administration after she co-authored an opinion article in a student newspaper that was critical of Israel. | On 25 March, Öztürk, 30, a Turkish national and PhD student studying child development, was bundled into an unmarked car by agents to be taken away without due process and is battling a deportation order issued by the Trump administration after she co-authored an opinion article in a student newspaper that was critical of Israel. |
| The administration is attempting to deport Öztürk under a rarely used immigration statute giving the secretary of state the authority to remove immigrants deemed harmful to US foreign policy. Her lawyers say it is a flagrant violation of her constitutional right to free speech. | The administration is attempting to deport Öztürk under a rarely used immigration statute giving the secretary of state the authority to remove immigrants deemed harmful to US foreign policy. Her lawyers say it is a flagrant violation of her constitutional right to free speech. |
| She appeared on video at the hearing on Friday dressed in a bright orange prison jumpsuit reminiscent of uniforms for terrorism suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, accompanied by one lawyer in the detention center and represented by another in the Vermont courtroom, where the judge heard that the government had not “produced a single piece of evidence” to justify Öztürk’s arrest and detention. | |
| According to court filings, Öztürk has suffered multiple asthma attacks in detention that she has struggled to get treated for, and has had her hijab forcibly removed. | According to court filings, Öztürk has suffered multiple asthma attacks in detention that she has struggled to get treated for, and has had her hijab forcibly removed. |
| Speaking to the judge on Friday, Öztürk said she has suffered 12 asthma attacks since her detention, saying: “Now they are between five to 45 minutes and they are more intense … longer and harder to stop.” | |
| “We are not allowed to take fresh air when we need to take it ... Also there is no divider between the showers,” Öztürk said. | |
| “Also the maximum capacity for the room is indicated … for 14 people but there are 24 people living in a small area, spanning … more than 22 hours inside of the same locked cell,” she added. | |
| Following Öztürk’s initial testimony, her doctor, Jessica McCannon, testified about her diagnosis of Öztürk’s asthma. At one point, Öztürk had an asthma attack during McCannon’s testimony, which her lawyers had to interrupt. The judge then excused Öztürk and allowed her to temporarily step out of the room to use the bathroom. | |
| The declaration elaborates on unsanitary conditions in the detention center and difficulties receiving care, echoing other accounts from detainees and immigration advocates who have reported rotten food and the denial of medical care in the facility in Basile, Louisiana, which is among a series of facilities in the state. | |
| Öztürk’s legal team – which includes the ACLU and Clear (Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility), a legal clinic affiliated with the City University of New York – filed a challenge to her detention, in federal court in Vermont. | |
| Öztürk is one of several international students detained by the Trump administration over their pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus. Another student, Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder set to graduate from New York’s Columbia University this year, was recently released on bail by another federal judge in Vermont. | Öztürk is one of several international students detained by the Trump administration over their pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus. Another student, Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder set to graduate from New York’s Columbia University this year, was recently released on bail by another federal judge in Vermont. |
| On Thursday, Mahdawi helped launch a $1m fundraising campaign to strengthen the legal safety net for immigrants in Vermont. He also accused Columbia of eroding democracy with its handling of campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. | On Thursday, Mahdawi helped launch a $1m fundraising campaign to strengthen the legal safety net for immigrants in Vermont. He also accused Columbia of eroding democracy with its handling of campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. |
| Mahdawi, 34, said in an interview that instead of being a “beacon of hope”, the university was inciting violence against students. | Mahdawi, 34, said in an interview that instead of being a “beacon of hope”, the university was inciting violence against students. |
| “Columbia University is participating in the destruction of the democratic system. They are supporting the initiatives and the agenda of the Trump administration, and they are punishing and torturing their students,” he said. | “Columbia University is participating in the destruction of the democratic system. They are supporting the initiatives and the agenda of the Trump administration, and they are punishing and torturing their students,” he said. |
| The New York police department was called in on Wednesday and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian activists who occupied part of the main library building on Columbia’s campus, ending an hours-long standoff, just over a year after student anti-war protests swept the Ivy League school and kicked off a wave of encampments at schools across the country. | The New York police department was called in on Wednesday and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian activists who occupied part of the main library building on Columbia’s campus, ending an hours-long standoff, just over a year after student anti-war protests swept the Ivy League school and kicked off a wave of encampments at schools across the country. |
| And in the case of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, 30, who was taken away from his home in New York and also sent to detention without due process, the justice department faces deadlines on Friday to provide a complete list of precedent cases in its attempt to justify his arrest and efforts to deport the green card holder. | And in the case of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, 30, who was taken away from his home in New York and also sent to detention without due process, the justice department faces deadlines on Friday to provide a complete list of precedent cases in its attempt to justify his arrest and efforts to deport the green card holder. |
| Michael Farbiarz, a federal judge in New Jersey, instructed the Trump administration on Wednesday to detail the legal precedent for its plan to deport Khalil, a Palestinian activist whose presence in the US the government insists could harm foreign policy interests. | Michael Farbiarz, a federal judge in New Jersey, instructed the Trump administration on Wednesday to detail the legal precedent for its plan to deport Khalil, a Palestinian activist whose presence in the US the government insists could harm foreign policy interests. |
| Farbiarz ordered the administration for every case in which the government, as in Öztürk’s case, is using obscure immigration law to make extraordinary claims that it can summarily detain and deport people for constitutionally protected free speech if they are deemed adverse to US foreign policy. | Farbiarz ordered the administration for every case in which the government, as in Öztürk’s case, is using obscure immigration law to make extraordinary claims that it can summarily detain and deport people for constitutionally protected free speech if they are deemed adverse to US foreign policy. |
| Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting | Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting |