Turkish Tufts University student who was detained has been released from ICE facility on bail
A Tufts University student from Turkey was released from a Louisiana immigration detention center Friday, more than six weeks after she was arrested walking on the street of a Boston suburb.
U.S. District Judge William Sessions in Burlington ordered the release of Rumeysa Ozturk pending a final decision on her claim that she바카라 게임 웹사이트s been illegally detained following an op-ed she co-wrote last year that criticized the school바카라 게임 웹사이트s response to Israel바카라 게임 웹사이트s war in Gaza. A photo provided by her legal team showed her outside, smiling with her attorneys in Louisiana, where the immigration proceedings will continue.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Despite an 11th hour attempt to delay her freedom by trying to force her to wear an ankle monitor, Rumeysa is now free and is excited to return home, free of monitoring or restriction,바카라 게임 웹사이트 attorney Mahsa Khanbabai said.
Even before her release, Ozturk's supporters cheered the decision, punctuating an earlier news conference held by her attorneys with chants of 바카라 게임 웹사이트She is free!바카라 게임 웹사이트
바카라 게임 웹사이트What we heard from the court today is what we have been saying for weeks, and what courts have continued to repeat up and down through the litigation of this case thus far,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts, told reporters. "There바카라 게임 웹사이트s absolutely no evidence that justifies detaining Ozturk for a single day, let alone the six and a half weeks that she has been detained, because she wrote a single op-ed in her student newspaper exercising her First Amendment right to express an opinion.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Appearing by video for her bail hearing, Ozturk, 30, detailed her growing asthma attacks in detention and her desire to finish her doctorate degree focusing on children and social media while appearing remotely at her bail hearing from the Louisiana center. She and her lawyer hugged after hearing the judge's decision.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Completing my Ph.D. is very important to me,바카라 게임 웹사이트 she testified. She had been on track to finish her work in December when she was arrested.
Ozturk was to be released 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 in consultation with her lawyers.
Sessions said the government had offered no evidence about why Ozturk was arrested other than the op-ed.
바카라 게임 웹사이트This is a woman who is just totally committed to her academic career,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Sessions said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트This is someone who probably doesn't have a whole lot of other things going on other than reaching out to other members of the community in a caring and compassionate way."
A message seeking comment was emailed Friday afternoon to the U.S. Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review.
Sessions told Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher he wants to know immediately when she is released.
Sessions said Ozturk raised serious concerns about her First Amendment and due process rights, as well as her health. She testified Friday that she has had 12 asthma attacks since her detention, starting with a severe one at the Atlanta airport.
바카라 게임 웹사이트I was afraid, and I was crying,바카라 게임 웹사이트 she said.
Immigration officials surrounded Ozturk in Massachusetts on March 25 and drove her to New Hampshire and Vermont before putting her on a plane to a detention center in Basile, Louisiana. Her student visa had been revoked several days earlier, but she was not informed of that, her lawyers said.
Ozturk바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers first filed a petition on her behalf in Massachusetts, but they did not know where she was and were unable to speak to her until more than 24 hours after she was detained. A Massachusetts judge later transferred the case to Vermont.
Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university바카라 게임 웹사이트s response to student activists demanding that Tufts 바카라 게임 웹사이트acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,바카라 게임 웹사이트 disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Ozturk said Friday that if she is released, Tufts would offer her housing and her lawyers and friends would drive her to future court hearings. She is expected to return to New England on Saturday at the earliest.
바카라 게임 웹사이트I will follow all the rules,바카라 게임 웹사이트 she said.
A State Department memo said Ozturk바카라 게임 웹사이트s visa was revoked following an assessment that her actions 바카라 게임 웹사이트바카라 게임 웹사이트may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization바카라 게임 웹사이트 including co-authoring an op-ed that found common cause with an organization that was later temporarily banned from campus.바카라 게임 웹사이트
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in March, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
바카라 게임 웹사이트When did speaking up against oppression become a crime? When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?바카라 게임 웹사이트 Khanbabai asked. 바카라 게임 웹사이트I am thankful that the courts have been ruling in favor of detained political prisoners, like Rumeysa.바카라 게임 웹사이트