A quartet of Massachusetts politicians praised a federal judge’s order Friday ordering Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk to be freed on bail while her immigration case moves through the courts.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III is a “victory for Rümeysa, for justice, and for our democracy,” Democratic U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, joined by U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-7th District and James P. McGovern, D-2nd District, said in a joint statement.
Sessions’ ruling came after a bail hearing in federal court in Vermont. The Massachusetts branch of the American Civil Liberties Union confirmed the decision.
“For 45 days, Rümeysa has been detained in Louisiana — over 1,300 miles from her friends, her community, and her lawyers. During that time, she has suffered regular and escalating asthma attacks. And at the same time, the government has failed to produce any justification for her detention,” Jessie Rossman, the state ACLU’s legal director, said. “We are so relieved that Rümeysa will soon be back in Massachusetts, and won’t stop fighting until she is free for good.”
Öztürk, detailing her growing asthma attacks in detention and her desire to finish her doctorate focusing on children and social media, appeared at a bail hearing remotely from the Louisiana center.
Öztürk, a 30-year-old Turkish national and fifth-year doctoral student studying child development, was taken from the streets of Somerville by six ICE agents while on her way to break a Ramadan fast.
In their joint statement, the Democratic pols said they were “relieved” that Öztürk had been released, but stressed that she never should have been detained in the first place.
Öztürk “is a cherished member of her community, and we are relieved that she can finally return to Massachusetts,” they said.
Last month, Markey, Pressley, McGovern and other lawmakers visited the ICE detention center in Louisiana where Öztürk is currently being held. There, they called for her release.
“If anyone is tempted to marginalize who they are coming for … to say, ‘That’s happening to them, but not I,’ — it could be you tomorrow,” Pressley, of Boston, said at the time.
She was whisked to New Hampshire, then to Vermont, and ultimately brought to an all-women’s detention facility in Louisiana.
Öztürk was detained because of an op-ed she co-authored in the Tufts student newspaper about the war in Gaza, but has not been charged with any crimes.
Critics said the Trump administration had never presented evidence that she had committed a crime.
“This is a young woman who was a Fulbright Scholar … [who] did nothing wrong,” U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D-5th District, said during an appearance on GBH News’ Boston Public Radio program on Friday.
“She doesn’t even have a parking ticket. And if you cannot write an op ed in a student newspaper in this country, we, none of us, have constitutional [rights],” Clark, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. House, said.
In a separate statement, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell said the order releasing Öztürk is a “welcome step toward justice and more evidence that the courts are doing their job to uphold people’s rights. I am relieved and elated that Rümeysa can now return to her community here in Massachusetts.”
But Friday’s order is “the first victory in a long legal road ahead – but the fact remains: Rümeysa detention was unjust from the start,” Campbell continued. “She is a law-abiding member of her community who was wrongly targeted by the federal administration because of her political views.”
Öztürk was released Friday on her own recognizance with no travel restrictions, Sessions said. He said she is not a danger to the community or a flight risk, but that he might amend his release order to consider any specific conditions by ICE.
He said he didn’t think electronic monitoring would be in order, and that she would also check in with a staffer of the Burlington Community Justice Center for supervisory checks.
In a statement, Mahsa Khanbabai, one of Öztürk’s lawyers, said her release came “45 days too late.”
“She has been imprisoned all these days for simply writing an op-ed that called for human rights and dignity for the people in Palestine. When did speaking up against oppression become a crime? When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?” the statement reads. “I am thankful that the courts have been ruling in favor of detained political prisoners like Rümeysa.”
The U.S. Justice Department said an immigration court in Louisiana, which is conducting separate removal proceedings regarding Öztürk, has jurisdiction over her case.
