Massachusetts lawmakers shave returned from a visit with detained Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, who remains detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana.
Ozturk, 30, was grabbed by immigration officials as she walked along a street in Somerville on March 25. After being taken to New Hampshire and then Vermont, she was put on a plane the next day and moved to the ICE detention center in Basile, Louisiana.
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WATCH HERELast week, a federal judge in Vermont ordered that she be transferred back from Louisiana to Vermont no later than May 1, 2025, while her habeas petition challenging her detainment proceeds. However, the Department of Justice has appealed that decision.
Sen. Ed Markey, Rep. Jim McGovern and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, all Democrats, joined fellow lawmakers from Louisiana and Mississippi in touring the ICE facility in Basile, Louisiana, meeting with Ozturk and other detainees, including Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who are being held there.
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SIGN UP The trip was meant to send a message.
"She told us she was afraid," Markey said upon his return to Logan Airport on Wednesday.
The federal government has accused Ozturk of being a support of Hamas, but has not provided details or evidence to back that claim. Her supporters say she was targeted after her byline appeared alongside other students' in an op-ed in the student newspaper.
Ozturk was one of four students who authored the op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Ozturk’s lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.
"Detaining her serves no purpose other than to silence dissent to stoke and instill fear," Pressley added.
"They are being targeted and imprisoned because of their political views," McGovern added.
But Republicans balk at that framing and the visit.
"It's a sideshow, it's meant for publicity," argued Wendy Wakeman, a Republican strategist.
But the Democratic congregation said they will continue to put the issue in the spotlight.
"All we can do is keep pointing out that what Donald Trump is doing is unconstitutional," Markey said.
McGovern took it further, saying Republicans are scared.
"They know what he's doing is wrong," he said.
To Wakeman, that argument fell flat.
"I have no problem with someone having a visa, violating the terms of that visa and having to be accountable for that," she said.
I filmed this yesterday on my way to Lousiana where my constituent Rümeysa Öztürk is being wrongfully held by ICE. I’m there now demanding her release. More to come. pic.twitter.com/KXGpXgIcj1
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) April 22, 2025
Also on Tuesday, Markey, Pressley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons to provide answers about the case.
In a letter, the lawmakers demanded answers to the following questions:
- What specific criteria led ICE to determine that no bed space was available for Öztürk in New England?
- Why was Öztürk transported to New Hampshire and Vermont before being flown to Louisiana, rather than being placed in a nearby facility in Massachusetts? Why was Öztürk transported to three separate locations in three different states before being flown to Louisiana?
- When was the decision made to transport Öztürk to Louisiana? Who made this decision? What steps and protocols were undertaken in this decision-making process?
- What is the total cost incurred by the government for Öztürk’s transportation from her arrest to her arrival in Louisiana, including flights and other logistical expenses?
- Did the jurisdictional implications of placing Öztürk in Louisiana, within a federal judicial circuit known for its pro-government immigration rulings, factor into ICE’s decision to transfer her there?
- What policies and procedures are in place to prevent forum shopping by ICE in detainee transfers?
- Given the documented history of abuse and inadequate legal access at ICE detention facilities in Louisiana, what justifications does ICE have for continuing to send detainees there?
Ozturk’s lawyers are challenging the legal authority for ICE’s detention and have asked that she be immediately released from custody, or alternatively, be returned to Vermont while her immigration case continues.
But a lawyer for the Justice Department said her case should be dismissed, saying the immigration court has jurisdiction. An immigration judge denied her request for bond Wednesday. U.S. District Judge William Sessions, who holds a seat in Burlington, Vermont, said he will hear her request for release.
Ozturk’s lawyers first filed a petition on her behalf in Massachusetts. Initially, they didn’t know where she was. They said they were unable to speak to her until more than 24 hours after she was detained. Ozturk herself said she unsuccessfully made multiple requests to speak to a lawyer.
Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities whose visas were revoked or have been stopped from entering the U.S. after they were accused of attending demonstrations or publicly expressing support for Palestinians. A Louisiana immigration judge has ruled that the U.S. can deport Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil based on the federal government’s argument that he poses a national security risk.
