MEDFORD, Mass. — A new 30-page filing by the Government Tuesday in Federal Court details the timeline following the arrest of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk last week.
The documents show ICE agents took the Tufts Ph.D. student out of state within an hour of her arrest.
ICE agents arrested Ozturk one week ago in Somerville.
According to this new filing, the Department of State revoked her student visa on March 21, which was allowed by the “Secretary of State’s discretion.”
Ozturk is still being held in a Louisiana jail while her attorneys petition to bring her back to Massachusetts.
But in the government’s response Tuesday: “federal immigration laws strip district courts of jurisdiction over the sorts of governmental decisions challenged in the Petition, including revocation of Petitioner’s student visa and ICE’s decision to initiate removal proceedings.”
The government says ICE transferred Ozturk out of state because there was no bedspace for her in a detention facility in New England close to an immigration court.
Their filing details a timeline of what went down last week following Ozturk’s arrest in Somerville on March 25 at 5:25 p.m.
From there, ICE took her to Methuen at 6:22 p.m., and then Lebanon, New Hampshire at around 6:36 p.m. that night.
Then by 10:28 p.m., Ozturk was taken to Vermont where she spent the night in an ICE Field Office before flying out of Burlington at 5:31 a.m.
By 2:30 p.m. on March 26, Ozturk landed in Louisiana, where she remains in custody.
The government says when she tried to petition to stay in Massachusetts, she was already in Vermont that night, so the courts in Massachusetts have no jurisdiction over this case.
The government argues she should file any complaints with the courts in Louisiana, where she’s being held.
Meanwhile students at Tufts University continue to rally support for the Turkish national.
They say she has a right to free speech and worry she’s being deported for an op-ed she co-authored, supporting Palestine.
Federal authorities say she engaged in activities supporting the terrorist group, Hamas.
Boston 25 News reached out to Ozturk’s lawyers for a response on this latest filing but haven’t heard back.
She’s expected to face an immigration judge in Louisiana on Monday morning.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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