Updated April 16, 2025 at 17:30 PM ET
Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish student arrested by immigration agents, has petitioned for her immediate release. After a three-hour federal hearing in Vermont on Monday, she remains in detention in Louisiana as the case continues.
Öztürk, a doctoral student at Tufts University, was walking to dinner in Somerville, Mass. last month when masked immigration officers arrested her. Soon after, she was transported to a detention center in Louisiana, where she has been held since, despite raising health concerns.
Her arrest is a part of the Trump administration's pledge to deport students in the U.S. on visas who express antisemitic views, a broad allegation critics say is being used to infringe on academic freedoms and students' free speech.
Last year, Öztürk co-authored an opinion piece for Tufts' student newspaper, urging the university to "divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel." The piece addresses the Gaza war and seems to be the basis for her detention. Tufts University leaders are calling for her release and return to campus.
Ramzi Kassem, an attorney on Öztürk's legal team, argues that her detention violates her rights to due process and deportation would infringe on her First Amendment right.
"That sort of writing should be welcomed, applauded, commended," Kassem told Morning Edition. "It's very fundamental to be able to exercise your free speech in support of Palestinian human rights. But it certainly should not be the cause, in our country, which still purports to be an open society that cares about free speech, to be abducted off the streets by ICE agents in unmarked vans."
NPR's Leila Fadel spoke to Kassem, who also directs the immigrant and non-citizens rights clinic at the City University of New York, about what happened in the federal hearing in Vermont and what's at stake in this case.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Leila Fadel: What came out of that three-hour-hearing yesterday?
Kassem: Yesterday, the federal judge in Vermont appropriately spent a long period of time hearing arguments from both our legal team, on behalf of Ms. Ozturk, as well as the government's attorney, both on the question of whether or not this federal court in Vermont had the power to decide her habeas corpus petition challenging the constitutionality of her arrest and detention by ICE, as well as questions around her application for immediate release or her transfer back from Louisiana to ICE detention within the jurisdiction of the district court in Vermont.
Fadel: And so immediate release didn't come from that hearing. What's next for your client in this case?
Kassem: We await the district court's decision on these two key questions. We hope that the court will find that it does have the power to hear her habeas corpus petition. We also hope that the court will either set her free or at least bring her back to Vermont.
Fadel: You're arguing that the Trump administration's attempt to deport Öztürk is unconstitutional. Can you lay that out for me?
Kassem: The government's assertion in this case is that it was appropriate to cancel her visa and take her off the streets of her college campus, simply because she co-authored an op-ed that was critical of the university's response to student protests in defense of Palestinian rights and lives.
Fadel: The Trump administration has generally talked about this case, saying that she's engaged in activities that support Hamas. It's something we've also heard about other international students. What evidence are they providing?
Kassem: None whatsoever. And the Trump administration says all sorts of things outside of court.
Fadel: What are they saying in court?
Kassem: Well, what they have advanced in court is simply that she co-authored an op-ed.
Fadel: Now, the government also argues that the secretary of state has the discretion to do this under this rarely used Immigration and Nationality Act if he deems her presence, other people's presence, as a threat to U.S. foreign policy. And I should note he's revoked hundreds of student visas under this act. What do you make of that argument?
Kassem: Well, they've actually withdrawn from that position, and so they're no longer saying that her visa was revoked on that basis. And in fact, The Washington Post reported that there is a State Department memo that actually responded to the Department of Homeland Security saying that it would not revoke on that basis.
Fadel: You represent other students, including Mahmoud Khalil, the green-card holder. What is at stake here over the future outcome of these cases?
Kassem: What is at stake is not just limited to people's ability to speak out in defense of Palestinian rights and lives. It is the fundamental protection of free speech in this country. And that should concern all of us. All of us should care about the First Amendment and about due process.
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