TUFTS PhD student wins fighting to move the deportation case to Vermont

(Bloomberg) -A PhD student at Tufts University who was critical of the Gaza war will be able to fight the US deportation in a Vermont -Federal Court rather than in Louisiana, where she has been held since last week. The ruling Friday by US district judge Denise Casper in Boston is an early procedural victory for Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen and Fulbright scholar whose visa has been revoked as a result of her outspoken criticism of Israel and support for Palestinians. Ozturk was pulled away by ordinary clamps outside her summer, Massachusetts, on March 25, and quickly moved to Louisiana in what her lawyers say a mysterious attempt to get her case in a jurisdiction considered to be friendlier for the Trump administration. Ozturk tried to hold her case in Boston or alternatively move to Vermont, where she was briefly detained before being transported to Louisiana. The judge on Friday denied a government’s motion to reject the case and expanded an earlier order and said Ozturk could not be moved outside the US until her case was resolved by the Vermont Federal Court. A lawyer for the third -year doctoral student encouraged the judge to hold the legal battle in Boston, near where Ozturk lives and studies. During a hearing on Thursday, her lawyer accused immigration agents of driving her away secretly and making sure no one knows where she is until she was in Louisiana. “Casper previously ordered Ozturk to stay in Boston, but she was already on her way to Louisiana. A lawyer from the Justice Department said the case was handled appropriately and argued that the case in the state where Ozturk is held should be handled. of Ramadan-in an interfaith center, according to Tufts. To support the allegations that she was busy with activities at Tufts that justified her arrest and detention. ‘ In the statement, Tufts confirmed that in March 2024, Ozturk compiled an opinion piece that called on the university to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and “withdraw from companies with direct or indirect ties with Israel. District Court, Massachusetts District (Boston).