Updated May 7, 2025 at 1:20 PM EDT
An appeals court in New York on Wednesday rejected a motion by the federal government to delay or block Rümeysa Öztürk’s transfer to Vermont.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion a day after hearing arguments from both parties, ruling that immigration officials must transfer the Tufts University student to Vermont by next Wednesday.
Lawyers with the Department of Justice had argued that an order by a lower court to transfer Öztürk to Vermont to attend a bail hearing in person should be overruled, contending the federal judge there lacks jurisdiction.
“No one should be arrested and locked up for their political views. Every day that Rümeysa Öztürk remains in detention is a day too long,” Öztürk attorney Esha Bhandari said in a statement after the ruling was issued. We’re grateful the court refused the government’s attempt to keep her isolated from her community and her legal counsel as she pursues her case for release,”
For almost six weeks, Öztürk, a 30-year-old Turkish doctoral student has been at a remote, privately operated detention facility in Louisiana where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds detainees. Her hearing had previously been scheduled for this Friday.
On March 25, Öztürk was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents in Somerville, placed in an unmarked SUV and taken away, unaware that her student visa had been revoked days earlier.
Federal judges in Massachusetts and Vermont have both ruled that a challenge to ICE’s arrest and detention of Öztürk should play out in Vermont — not Louisiana — given that’s where Öztürk was physically located when her attorney filed a habeas petition challenging her detention as unlawful.
Federal Judge William Sessions in Vermont later ordered Öztürk be transferred to ICE custody in his state so she could attend her upcoming hearings in person. The government appealed and last week, the appeals court agreed to consider the request — issuing an administrative stay ahead of a hearing held Tuesday.
The federal judge in Vermont was scheduled to hear arguments Friday on whether Ozturk should be released from detention. It was not immediately clear if that hearing would be delayed.
____
This is a developing story; it will be updated.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2025 WBUR