A federal judge in Vermont on Friday ordered that a Doctoral student of TUFTS University be released with guarantees from ice prisoners after his visa was revoked by Trump’s administration.
The US District Judge William Sesi Senimpan the government in ordering Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish normal, was released while their case was in conflict with the results, saying that the government did not produce any evidence that exceeded him from the OP-ED which he wrote together in the student newspaper last year.
“I tell the government that they must immediately introduce such evidence, and that is three weeks ago, and there is no evidence that has been introduced by the government apart from OP-ED.
Ozturk testified remotely at his guarantee session from the detention facility in Louisiana where he had been detained since the ice agent held him near his home in Massachusetts on March 25.
His lawyer believes that former Fulbright graduate is being targeted by Trump’s administration because the column he wrote together in the student newspaper who criticized the university’s response to the resolution approved by the TUFTS Community Union Senate.
The resolutions asked the university to “recognize the Palestinian genocide, apologize for the statement of the President of Sunil Kumar University, revealing its investment and releasing from the company with direct or indirect relationships with Israel,” he wrote on OP-ED.
The lawyer who represented the government did not examine Oztangk during the Friday insurance session, or offered witnesses who could prove why he was a threat to foreign policy, as alleged by the government.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Doctoral student at Tufts University in Somerville, Mass., Pose in an unpredited photo provided by his family and obtained by Reuters on March 29, 2025.
For the end of the Ozturk family through Reuters
The judge session also highlighted several declarations submitted in Oztangk’s defense, prove “peaceful and loving character.”
“I will only express my own observations and that this is a woman who is truly committed to her academic career. This is someone who may not have many other things that happen other than reaching members of other community in a caring and loving way,” Hakim said.
“There is absolutely no evidence that he has been involved in violence or encourages violence. He has no criminal records. He did nothing but attended his university and expanded his contacts in the community in a way that was so supportive,” he said.
In a statement to ABC News issued after his arrest last month, a spokesman for the Department of Domestic Security said, “The DHS and ICE investigation found Ozturk involved in activities that support Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that enjoys American murder. Visa is the privilege of recognition.
The judge also previously said that he was not open to giving permanently from his orders. Instead, he ordered the government to submit a series of conditions that Ice would forced for its release.
“I want to know soon when he was released,” he said.
Wearing hijab, glasses, and orange jumpsuit, Oztangk testified through zoom about the work of humanity that he did as part of his study in the child’s development. He also testified about his involvement in school groups and projects.
Ozturk told the judge that he organized an event that he called “collectively grieved for children who experienced war and conflict” which aims to help children “from Gaza to Israel, from Russia to Ukraine … from all parts of the world.”
“I think as a person who works in the academic world for the development and welfare of children, sometimes it is possible that we forget the emotional touch or sadness that extends to children that we do not have to do,” he said. “But that does not mean that we are not grieving for other children, everything is ours, of all parts of the world that experiences very sad events including war and conflict.”
Ozturk said during the trial that, if he was released with guarantee, TUFTS had offered several housing options that he hoped to be taken to complete the Ph.D.
In the declaration of the oath and trial of the court, Ozturk and his lawyer emphasized the urgent need for him to be released, noting that he had experienced at least 12 asthma attacks since he was detained. They also accused the detention facility to be crowded and unclean, which they said might affect their welfare.
People gathered to support Tufts Rumeysa Ozturk University students and Columbia University Student activists Mohsen Mahdawi at Foley Square on May 6, 2025, in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, File
At one point during the trial, he was given a break to take asthma medication after appearing at several points to grip his chest when he struggled to speak. He testified that he had an asthma attack at the airport in Atlanta when he was transported to Louisiana.
“I was afraid and I cried,” he testified, adding that the daily maintenance inhaler was not given to him.
State Secretary Marco Rubio said last week that the government revoked the Ozturk visa due to pro-Palestinian activism.
“If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and become a student, and you tell us the reason you come to the United States not only because you want to write an op-ed, but because you want to participate in the movements involved in doing things like inaugurating visas from 3 ribbons, who harassed students, making a series, making backpacks, we will not give a visa from a visa,” take over the country Visa from the Visa, “Take over the visa,” We will not give a visa, “We will not give you a visa,” Pursued the series. ” Since the beginning of Trump’s second government.