BOSTON — Attorneys for Tufts University Ph.D. student and Fulbright scholar Rümeysa Öztürk urged a federal judge Thursday to keep her immigration case in Massachusetts, arguing that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unlawfully transferred her to Louisiana after arresting her in apparent retaliation for a student newspaper op-ed she co-authored.
Öztürk, a fifth-year doctoral student in Eliot-Pearson Child Study and Human Development at Tufts Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a Turkish national, was arrested last week by plainclothes ICE agents in Somerville. A Massachusetts judge subsequently ordered the federal government not to remove her from the state without prior notice. But shortly after that order, ICE transferred her to Louisiana without informing the court, her legal counsel, or Department of Justice attorneys, according to filings from the ACLU of Massachusetts.
“The government quietly and quickly hopscotched Ms. Öztürk across multiple states in a concerted effort to evade accountability,” said Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. “She never should have been grabbed from her street in Somerville and secretly moved over 1,300 miles away from her community.”
Öztürk’s attorneys say she was unreachable for nearly 24 hours during the transfer and suffered an asthma attack while in transit. She has not been charged with any crime and remains in detention in Louisiana.
In a statement dictated to her attorney, Öztürk said, “Writing is one of the most peaceful ways of addressing systemic inequality. Efforts to target me because of my op-ed in the Tufts Daily calling for the equal dignity and humanity of all people will not deter me from my commitment to advocate for the rights of youth and children.”
The op-ed, which appeared in The Tufts Daily in March 2024, called on the university to divest from companies operating in Israel and described Israeli military actions in Gaza as genocide. It remains the only publicly known basis for the federal government’s claim that Öztürk supported Hamas. To date, the Department of Homeland Security has not provided any specific evidence to support the allegation to the general public.
“Snatching a student off the street in retaliation for an op-ed is a disturbing escalation of the administration’s callous disregard for our civil liberties,” said Noor Zafar, senior staff attorney at the ACLU. “Ms. Öztürk’s case should stay in Massachusetts, where she was cruelly ripped away from her community. We will not stop fighting until this injustice is righted, and until this kind of abusive tactic is unimaginable in America once again.”
Öztürk is represented by a legal team that includes attorneys from the ACLU, ACLU of Massachusetts, CUNY CLEAR (Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility), and private law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. Mahsa Khanbabai, an immigration attorney on the team, described the case as a clear attempt to chill protected speech.
“If the government is afraid of a Ph.D. student writing an op-ed denouncing genocide, then we should be seriously concerned about the integrity of our government,” said Khanbabai.
More than 20 letters of support from friends, colleagues, and Tufts faculty, including the university president, have been submitted to the court asking for Öztürk’s release, according to the ACLU.
A habeas petition filed in federal court challenges her detention and transfer. The case, Öztürk v. Trump, is ongoing.
