Tag Archives: Massachusetts

Reuters: Tufts student detained by US immigration authorities must be released, judge rules

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  • Rumeysa Ozturk ordered released immediately from Louisiana detention center
  • Ozturk was detained after pro-Palestinian campus advocacy
  • Judge said her detention chills free speech of non-citizens

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to immediately release a Tufts University student from Turkey who has been held for over six weeks in a Louisiana immigration detention facility after she co-wrote an opinion piece criticizing her school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

U.S. District Judge William Sessions during a hearing in Burlington, Vermont, granted bail to Rumeysa Ozturk, who is at the center of one of the highest-profile cases to emerge from Republican President Donald Trump’s campaign to deport pro-Palestinian activists on American campuses.

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Massachusetts-based Tufts has said it plans to help provide Ozturk housing upon her release. In a statement, a university spokesperson said it hoped she would be able to rejoin its community as soon as possible to resume her doctoral studies.

F*ck y** and rot in Hell, unAmerican *ssh*l* Stephen “Goebbels” Miller:

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called the judge’s ruling another sign of what he considers a “judicial coup” in the United States. Several parts of the president’s hardline immigration agenda have been blocked by judges.

“We cannot individually litigate every single visa that we want to revoke,” Miller told reporters.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tufts-student-detained-by-us-immigration-authorities-must-be-released-judge-2025-05-09

Independent: Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn’t ‘take a position’ on her free speech

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A New York-based federal appeals court has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to transfer Tufts University scholar Rumeysa Ozturk from an immigration detention center in Louisiana to Vermont.

The case of Ozturk, a Turkish international student and former Fulbright scholar working towards her doctorate in child development, is among several high-profile cases at the center of the Trump administration’s targeting of international students for their advocacy for Palestine during Israel’s war in Gaza.

In March, Ozturk’s visa was revoked and she was arrested and detained by plain-clothes federal agents outside her apartment in Massachusetts in what her lawyers argue is a retaliatory attempt to deport her over an op-ed she wrote in a student newspaper.

The government has one week to transfer her, according to Wednesday’s order, which arrived less than 24 hours after a hearing in which government attorneys failed to say whether they even agree with the administration’s position that her pro-Palestine speech is not constitutionally protected.

Appellate Judge Barrington Parker, who was appointed by George W. Bush, pressed Department of Justice attorney Drew Ensign on whether Ozturk’s statements — and statements from another international student who was arrested for support for Palestine — amount to protected speech.

“Your honor, we haven’t taken a position on that,” Ensign replied.

“Help my thinking. Take a position,” Parked fired back.

“I don’t have authority to take a position,” Ensign said.

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“She has been held behind bars for six weeks while her health deteriorates for writing an op-ed,” she told a three-judge appeals court panel Wednesday. “Detention is not the norm with respect to visa revocation, as we had here. The executive branch made a specific decision to detain Ms. Ozturk that was motivated by her speech.”

Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn’t ‘take a position’ on her free speech
Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn’t ‘take a position’ on her free speech – Federal appeals court gives government 10 days to transfer Rumeysa Ozturk to Vermont after DOJ lawyers refused to say if pro-Palestine speech is constitutionally protected

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-team-ordered-to-move-tufts-student-from-louisiana-ice-jail-after-it-couldn-t-take-a-position-on-her-free-speech/ar-AA1Ellat

UPI: Judge Hannah Dugan’s arrest raises questions about jurisdiction, preserving judicial integrity

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The arrest and charges against Dugan have sparked concerns about intimidation against judges but Russell Wheeler adds that the presence of deportation agents in the courthouse also creates a chilling effect. Wheeler is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

“The question is whether or not they should be searching in the courthouse in the first place,” Wheeler told UPI. “They don’t want ICE agents in the courthouse because people without status are going to be afraid to testify, be witnesses and cooperate with law enforcement.”

Wheeler’s concerns are not limited to immigration-related arrests, though in the current climate that concern is heightened.

“There’s a host of reasons you want to keep the courthouse open, regardless of status,” he said. “It’s the same reason as having a church as a no-arrest zone. That’s a matter of preserving religious freedom. This is a matter, in my view, of preserving the integrity of the judicial process. You don’t do that by creating a system where people are afraid to go to court. You don’t want to discourage people from reporting crimes or providing evidence.”

Judge Hannah Dugan’s arrest raises questions about jurisdiction, preserving judicial integrity
The arrest of a Wisconsin judge may have a chilling effect on the courts, experts say, even if the charges are justifiable.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/judge-hannah-dugan-s-arrest-raises-questions-about-jurisdiction-preserving-judicial-integrity/ar-AA1E3sSP

NBC News: FBI arrests Milwaukee judge, alleging she interfered in immigration operation

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The arrest marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, as well as in its battles with judges across the country.

The FBI arrested a county judge in Milwaukee on Friday, alleging that she obstructed federal authorities who were seeking to detain an undocumented immigrant by escorting the man and his defense attorney though a nonpublic jury door.

The arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, in line with its rhetoric about going after local and state authorities on immigration-related matters. It’s also marks another step in the Trump administration’s battles with judges over federal policy.

In an appearance on Fox News on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3] the arrest to pull in the administration’s broader, repeated criticism of judges. “What’s happening to our judiciary is beyond me,” Bondi said, before using the term “deranged.”

Pitting the Feds vs. the States is a fight that Bimbo #3 Pam Bondi will not win. This is one of the dumbest moves King Donald’s underlings could have made.

Bimbo #3 Pam Bondi should look in the mirror as she speaks of the “deranged”.

FBI arrests Milwaukee judge, alleging she interfered in immigration operation
The arrest marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, as well as in its battles with judges across the country.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-arrests-milwaukee-judge-alleging-interfered-immigration-operation-rcna203006

Washington Post: Khalil ruling to test Trump deportation tactic of sending detainees to Louisiana

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Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil’s attorneys were stunned when an immigration judge in Jena, Louisiana, announced this week that she would rule on whether he should be deported on Friday — three days after his initial court appearance.

“That is, in my opinion, contrary to every notion of due process,” Marc Van Der Hout, one of his attorneys, told reporters Thursday.

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Though they remain detained in Louisiana as their immigration court proceedings move forward, Khalil and Ozturk successfully blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to establish federal court jurisdiction in that state. Their attorneys argued that the government secretly arrested the scholars and shuttled them between locations without public disclosure to make it more difficult for them to file habeas corpus petitions in courts closer to home.

A federal judge in New York ruled last month that Khalil’s lawsuit alleging the government violated his constitutional rights to free speech should take place in New Jersey, where he was briefly held before being transferred. His attorneys said that even if the immigration judge in Louisiana rules he can be deported, his federal court challenge could stop his removal if they are victorious.

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The administration’s strategy “is to isolate the individuals from their communities, their legal support, their families, in hopes that media attention and mobilization around their cases dies down,” said Ramzi Kassem, co-director at CLEAR, a legal nonprofit and clinic at City University of New York that is representing Khalil and Ozturk.

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The unusual aspect of the Trump administration’s approach, Sandweg said, is how quickly federal authorities relocated the university scholars. Detainee transfers can take up to two weeks, he said, but the Trump administration moved them within days.

Pointing to Khalil’s case, Sandweg said it raises “very complicated questions of the First Amendment. If you know this case is headed to the courts well in advance, the speed in which he was taken to Louisiana so quickly is unusual. That means they were thinking about those legal issues before the operation and had a plan to get him on the plane to Louisiana.”

Khalil ruling tests Trump deportation tactic of sending detainees to Louisiana
Attorneys have contended the Trump administration is purposely holding detained students in ICE facilities in conservative judicial districts.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/khalil-ruling-to-test-trump-deportation-tactic-of-sending-detainees-to-louisiana/ar-AA1CJ2QI

Seattle Times: Seattle activist verbally attacked by Elon Musk vows to push back

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If Musk can’t take the heat, he shouldn’t be a federal employee, “special” or otherwise.

Threatening messages began filling up Valerie Costa’s inboxes after Elon Musk in an X post accused her of “committing crimes.”

Her alleged crimes? Leading and promoting protests against Musk at Tesla showrooms across the Seattle area.

Costa and her housemates started asking whether they are safe and whether the FBI or law enforcement will show up. She then began to pull the website for her fundraising and nonprofit management business offline and scrubbed her personal information from the internet.

Nevertheless, threats continued.

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But no criminal activity has been reported at anti-Tesla protests in Seattle, said Sgt. Patrick Michaud with the Seattle Police Department.

Nevertheless, the lack of criminal activities at those protests hasn’t stopped Musk and others from accusing Costa and others of violating laws. Musk’s post on X quoted a video suggesting Costa was inspired by Luigi Mangione, the man charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, which Costa said is not true.

Musk’s tweet and rhetoric from federal authorities communicate a grim message about the state of protections for the First Amendment, Costa said.

Seattle activist verbally attacked by Elon Musk vows to push back
Threatening messages began filling up Valerie Costa’s inboxes after Elon Musk in an X post accused her of “committing
crimes.”

Seattle activist verbally attacked by Elon Musk vows to push back