Authorities Release Pro-Palestine Foreign Student After Federal Judge’s Order

Federal authorities released Turkish national and doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), after U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III ordered it.

The Federal District Court in Vermont ruled Friday that Ozturk must be released from detention, The New York Times (NYT) reported. Federal authorities had held the doctoral student from Tufts University at a detention center in Louisiana for approximately six weeks.

“Her continued detention cannot stand,” Sessions said at Ozturk’s hearing. (RELATED: Trump Announces First Wave Of Federal Court Nominations)

Ozturk was detained in March by ICE agents outside her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, according to NYT.

NEW: I’ve obtained new footage of the abduction of Tufts student Runeysa Ozturk which includes audio of her kidnappers. pic.twitter.com/gucwFxdnOi

— Daniel Boguslaw (@DRBoguslaw) March 26, 2025

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE “found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Caller News Foundation in March.

McLaughlin said it was “commonsense security” and added that a “visa is a privilege.”

Ozturk co-authored an op-ed in the Tufts Daily 2024 regarding Tufts Community Union Senate voting to demand her university accept three resolutions calling on the institution to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, apologize for University President Sunil Kumar’s statements, disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.” The Union Senate did approve a fourth that would call for the termination of study abroad programs at Israeli universities.

The op-ed argued that the university’s response “to the Senate resolutions has been wholly inadequate and dismissive of the Senate.“

“There has been no evidence that has been introduced by the government other than the op-ed,” Sessions said, according to NYT. He added that her detention could possibly chill “the speech of the millions and millions of individuals in this country who are not citizens.”

A federal appellate court ruled Wednesday that Ozturk must be released from the detention facility and returned to Vermont, according to the outlet. However, Sessions fast tracked her bail hearing, leading to it taking place while she remained in Louisiana.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Ozturk’s attorneys suggested the possibility of restricting travel to Vermont and Massachusetts, where she resides, but Sessions said he did not believe Ozturk posed a flight risk, according to Politico.

The Trump administration has continued to face opposition to deportation efforts from federal judges. (RELATED: Deadly Sabotage Could Destroy Trump’s Legacy, And America Too)

Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court James Boasberg temporarily blocked Trump’s efforts in March to expedite the deportations of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. In early April, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to return alleged MS-13 gang member Abrego Garcia to the U.S. after deporting him to El Salvador. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary stay of the order days later.