A federal judge granted bail to Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk on Friday, freeing her from federal immigration custody more than six weeks after the Trump administration revoked her visa and arrested her.
U.S. District Judge William Sessions ruled that Öztürk raised substantial First Amendment and due process claims, saying the government had given no justification for detaining her other than a student newspaper op-ed she co-authored criticizing Tufts’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
“There is absolutely no evidence that that she has engaged in violence or advocated violence. She has no criminal record,” Sessions, an appointee of former President Clinton, said at the end of Friday’s three-hour hearing.
“She has done nothing other than essentially attend her university and expand her contacts within the community in such a supportive way,” he continued.
The judge ordered Öztürk to submit to monthly check-ins and some supervision measures but put no restrictions on her travel, saying she didn’t pose any flight risk or danger to the community.
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Öztürk’s case comes as part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration on international students who have expressed pro-Palestinian support, efforts that have included revoking their legal status and initiating removal proceedings.
Öztürk, a Turkish national, had a far less visible role in campus activism compared to other students who have sued, such as Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, organizers of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.
As the hearing was ongoing, an appeals court declined to lift a similar court order that released Mahdawi from immigration custody.
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