ICE ordered to return Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk to Vermont

President Trump’s administration must return detained Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk to Vermont, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student originally from Turkey, has been held for weeks in an immigration jail in Louisiana while her case was argued in multiple courts. But the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals gave ICE until May 14 to bring her back to Vermont.

Vermont “is likely the proper venue to adjudicate Ozturk’s habeas petition because, at the time she filed, she was physically in Vermont,” the court wrote in its 45-page decision.

Plainclothes federal agents arrested Ozturk on a Boston street on March 25, and her detainment was captured on video. She’s one of several international students who have been detained for supporting pro-Palestine movements.

Lawyers for Ozturk quickly filed a habeas corpus petition, arguing the government had denied Ozturk her rights to due process under the U.S. Constitution. She was being held in Vermont when the petition was filed.

On May 1, a federal district judge in Vermont ruled that Ozturk should be returned to the state, but the Trump administration immediately appealed. On Wednesday, the 2nd Circuit Court rejected that appeal.

“No one should be arrested and locked up for their political views,” American Civil Liberties Union deputy director Esha Bhandari said in a press release. “We’re grateful the court refused the government’s attempt to keep her isolated from her community and her legal counsel.”

Originally Published: May 7, 2025 at 5:42 PM EDT