Judge to decide jurisdiction in case of Tufts student grabbed by ICE

Grace Zokovitch and Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald on Apr 3, 2025

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BOSTON — The case to free a Tufts Ph.D. student and vocally pro-Palestine Turkish national after she was detained last week took a step forward in court Thursday, with both defense lawyers and the Justice Department clashing on jurisdiction of the case.

Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old Tufts University Ph.D. student and Fulbright Scholar from Turkey on a student visa, was taken by ICE agents in plainclothes outside her off-campus apartment in Sommerville on Tuesday, March 25, as the Trump administration moves to deport foreign students active in pro-Palestine movements.

Ozturk was then taken to Methuen, before being transported out of state to New Hampshire, Vermont and eventually flown to a Louisiana ICE detention facility, where she is currently detained.

Since her detention, lawyers for Ozturk have moved to have Massachusetts federal court assume jurisdiction of the proceedings, order her immediate release during the case, and eventually reinstate her student visa.

The defense’s motion also calls for the government to cease the “unlawful Policy of targeting noncitizens for arrest, detention and removal based on First Amendment-protected speech advocating for Palestinian rights.”

During the hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Denise Casper focused on the jurisdictional issue. The defense pushed for the case to remain in Massachusetts, where Ozturk was arrested, while prosecutors have moved for the case to be taken to Louisiana, where she is now.

“If the court determines that Massachusetts is not an appropriate forum for this case, then transferred to Vermont would be the appropriate remedy, not dismissal or transfer to Louisiana,” said Adriana Lafaille, an ACLU lawyer on Ozturk’s defense team.

Allowing the government to “choose its forums” by moving a defendant, “sets very strange and dangerous president,” Lafaille continued.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter, arguing for the Justice Department, said the feds did not intend to manipulate jurisdiction or trick the defense.

“The petitioner’s council did not know where she was; that’s not the same thing as ICE not being forthcoming about her location,” Sauter said. “ICE was still in the process of transporting her.”

Sauter contended that the case should be tried in the “district of confinement” where “the immediate custodian is known.”

Casper did not make a determination on the jurisdiction Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security has stated Ozturk was arrested due to “support of Hamas,” without providing further information. Government officials reportedly told Tufts University her presence in the country would result in “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,” the university wrote in a statement of support for Ozturk on Wednesday.

Ozturk was one of several authors to an op-ed in the Tufts Daily “Try again, President Kumar: Renewing Calls for Tufts to Adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions” in March 2024, critical of the administration’s position on the “Palestinian genocide” and calling for divestment from companies with ties to Israel.

Ozturk’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus names Donald Trump, New England Field Office ICE Director Patricia Hyde, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, HSI New England Special Agent in Charge Michael Krol, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons as respondents.

Casper previously ordered Ozturk “shall not be removed from the United States until further Order of this Court” on March 28.

“I’m very focused on this jurisdictional issue, which is very much a live issue here,” Casper said Thursday. “So I’m inclined to wrestle with that a little bit more and get a decision out in that regard. And then if there are further proceedings, we would go from there.”

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