US judge denies government’s bid to move Rumeysa Ozturk’s case to Louisiana; transfers proceeding to Vermont

WASHINGTON 

A federal judge denied the Trump administration's attempt Friday to dismiss or transfer Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk’s case to the state of Louisiana, instead ruling that the proceeding will be transferred to Vermont.

US District Judge Denise Casper for Massachusetts also granted a request to block the government from removing Ozturk from the US while her petition challenging her detention is considered.

In her 26-page decision, Casper said Vermont was the appropriate venue for the case since Ozturk had been confined there at the time the petition was filed. The judge noted that Ozturk’s legal team had not known her whereabouts after her arrest, and therefore, could not be faulted for filing the petition in the state of Massachusetts, where Ozturk had been detained initially.

Ozturk, 30, a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University and Fulbright scholar, was arrested March 25 near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts while heading to an iftar dinner to break her fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Mahsa Khanbabai, an attorney representing Ozturk, welcomed the ruling as "one step closer to restoring Rümeysa Öztürk’s rights."

She said the ruling sends a "clear message that the government cannot manipulate jurisdiction in order to target human rights defenders, in violation of their First Amendment rights.”

No charges have been filed against Ozturk, according to Khanbabai, who thinks she "should never have been arrested or detained by ICE in the first place."

Jessie Rossman, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said the group is ready to defend Ozturk’s rights in Vermont to "bring her back to her loved ones and life in Somerville."

A viral video captured the moments of her detention, showing masked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents handcuffing her and forcibly taking away her phone.

US Secretary of State Rubio said her F-1 was revoked. Authorities claim she engaged in activities supporting the Palestinian group, Hamas -- an allegation her family and advocates strongly deny.

Ozturk's lawyers and supporters argue that she was detained for co-writing an op-ed in The Tufts Daily in March 2024 that criticized the university's handling of the pro-Palestinian movement.

Ozturk’s detention comes amid the Trump administration's broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian students and academics, including the detention of Palestinian activist and recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, and Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri.