ICE says Mass. judge has no jurisdiction in case of detained Tufts student

Local News

After her arrest in Somerville, Rümeysa Öztürk was moved rapidly to New Hampshire, Vermont, and then flown to Louisiana.

In court filings, federal officials said Tuesday that a federal judge in Massachusetts does not have jurisdiction to decide whether Rümeysa Öztürk was illegally detained by ICE agents last week. This, according to the Justice Department, is because Öztürk was not in Massachusetts when a legal challenge was filed against the federal government. 

Öztürk, a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University, was arrested by plainclothes federal agents on a Somerville sidewalk last week. She was swiftly moved to a detention center in Louisiana. 

The Trump administration revoked her visa, apparently because she “engaged in activities in support of Hamas.” Öztürk co-authored an op-ed in The Tufts Daily last year calling for the school to divest from Israeli companies and to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.”

The op-ed makes no mention of Hamas, and federal officials have produced no evidence linking Öztürk to the disruptive protest activities described by Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he defended Öztürk’s arrest. 

Öztürk remains in Louisiana, and a judge has ordered that she not be moved from the country at this time. Her lawyers argue that she is being unlawfully detained, and that her rights to free speech and due process are being violated. They have pushed for the court to order ICE to return Öztürk to Massachusetts and release her on bail. 

Federal prosecutors conceded that Öztürk can challenge the revocation of her visa and her detention, but argued that the case belongs in immigration court. Öztürk is required to file any petitions in the jurisdiction she is currently confined in, they argued, and the case should be dismissed or transferred to Louisiana, according to court documents obtained by The Boston Globe. 

Öztürk was taken into custody at 5:49 p.m. on March 25. She was then moved to Methuen, then New Hampshire, then Vermont.

Öztürk’s attorneys filed a petition challenging her arrest in US District Court in Boston at 10:01 p.m. on March 25. By then, she was reportedly on her way from Lebanon, N.H. to St. Albans, Vermont. A District Court judge ordered ICE to keep Öztürk in Massachusetts at 10:55 p.m., but she was already in Vermont. She was flown to Louisiana the following morning, according to the Globe. 

In the court documents, the government said that there was “no available bedspace” for Öztürk at local facilities and therefore she was moved to Louisiana. Her lawyers argued that Öztürk’s circuitous and rapid movement to multiple states was part of a broader strategy to stymie lawyers of those being detained by ICE. 

“The movement of [Öztürk] to other states is consistent with, and part of, ICE’s pattern and practice of moving people detained for their speech to distant locations incommunicado and in secret to frustrate the ability of counsel to file habeas petitions on their behalf,” Öztürk’s attorneys wrote, per the Globe.

Öztürk’s arrest, which was captured on multiple videos that circulated widely online, has ignited a strong response from locals. Thousands rallied at multiple protests last week. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Attorney General Andrea Campbell joined labor union leaders at a rally Tuesday night. Around 100 protesters gathered outside the JFK Federal Building on Sudbury Street to protest the actions of ICE and the Trump administration.  

“In no way is the detainment and abduction of Rümeysa advancing public safety here in Massachusetts or in this country,” Campbell said. “It’s an insult to everything this country stands for, and if you do not know your historical context, you better get to know it real quick.”