A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University doctoral student who was detained by ICE agents on the street in Somerville, Massachusetts, in March amid a crackdown on pro-Palestinian students on visas.
As with Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian protest leader at Columbia University who was freed last month after being arrested by federal agents, the judge ruling in her case said he was concerned by her detention.
As justification for her arrest, the federal government — which says it is acting to stop antisemitism on campuses — had cited an op-ed Ozturk co-authored that was critical of Tufts’ response to the war in Gaza.
“There is no evidence here as to the motivation, absent the consideration of the op-ed,” U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III said during her bail hearing. He added, “There is absolutely no evidence that she has engaged in violence, or advocated violence, she has no criminal record.”
In April, 27 Jewish groups filed an amicus brief expressing concern over Ozturk’s arrest, and Jewish students at Tufts said they did not support her detention. The government’s effort to deport her will proceed after she is freed.
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