WASHINGTON 

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ordered detained Turkish doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk transferred to a court in Vermont in a blow to the Trump administration as it seeks to deport her for her pro-Palestinian speech.

Justice Department attorneys have sought to prevent Ozturk's transfer from an immigration jail in the Southern state of Louisiana to a federal district court in Vermont, in the US Northeast, where a judge has set a bail hearing for May 9. Proceedings in that court are slated to address her continued detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after she was arrested in March.

A three-judge panel with the US Second Circuity Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday from the Justice Department and Ozturk's attorney before it issued its ruling. The judges rejected the administration's bid to overturn a lower court ruling mandating Ozturk be returned to Vermont, and gave the Trump administration one week to return her to the US state so she can attend hearings set by District Judge William Sessions.

It is unclear if the Trump administration will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

But President Donald Trump earlier Wednesday issued a social media screed against the US judicial system, saying, in part, that it "is not letting me do the job I was Elected to do."

"Activist judges must let the Trump Administration deport murderers, and other criminals who have come into our Country illegally, WITHOUT DELAY!!!" he said.

Ozturk was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents on March 25 while she was walking down the street in Somerville, Massachusetts in broad daylight. Ozturk was then quickly shuttled between three states as authorities transported her to an immigration prison in Louisiana.

Ozturk co-authored an op-ed last year critical of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip in Tufts University’s student newspaper.

Esha Bhandari, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union representing Ozturk, said during Tuesday's hearing that Ozturk "has been held behind bars for six weeks while her health deteriorates for writing an op-ed, and now that the district court is on the verge of hearing her urgent claim for release, this Friday, the government asks this court to extraordinarily intervene to block her transfer to the district, as if it is the party suffering any irreparable harm."

"The executive branch made a specific decision to detain Ms. Ozturk that was motivated by her speech," said Bhandari.

Under repeated questioning by Circuit Judge Barrington D. Parker, Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign would not say whether Ozturk's speech was protected by the free speech guarantees enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

"Your honor, we haven't taken a position on that," said Ensign, before arguing that he did not "have authority to take a position on that right now."

The appellate court's decision to give the Trump administration one week to transfer Ozturk has cast into doubt the feasibility of holding Friday's hearing as scheduled. ​​​​​​