Turkish Tufts University student back in Boston after release from Louisiana detention center

BOSTON AP A Tufts University candidate from Turkey returned to Boston on Saturday one day after being distributed from a Louisiana immigration detention center where she was held for over six weeks Upon arrival at Logan Airport Rumeysa Ozturk explained reporters she was excited to get back to her studies during what has been a very complicated period In the last days I lost both my freedom and also my learning during a crucial time for my doctoral studies she commented But I am so grateful for all the endorsement kindness and care A judge ordered Ozturk s release Friday pending a final decision on her claim that she was illegally detained following an op-ed she co-wrote last year criticizing her university s response to Israel and the war in Gaza Ozturk reported she will continue her circumstance in the courts adding I have faith in the American system of justice She was joined by her lawyers and two of Massachusetts Democratic members of Congress Sen Edward Markey and Rep Ayanna Pressley Nowadays is a tremendous day as we welcome you back Rumeysa Markey disclosed You have made millions and millions of people across our country so proud of the way you have fought Appearing by video for her bail hearing Friday Ozturk detailed her growing asthma attacks in detention and her desire to finish her doctorate focusing on children and social media U S District Judge William Sessions in Vermont ruled that she was to be issued on her own recognizance with no advance restrictions She was not a danger to the public or a flight hazard he disclosed while noting that he might amend the release order to consider any conditions by U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE in consultation with her lawyers Sessions revealed the cabinet offered no evidence for why Ozturk was arrested other than the op-ed The U S Justice Department s Executive Office for Immigration Review did not respond to an email message seeking comment Friday afternoon Ozturk was one of four students who wrote the opinion piece last year in campus newspaper The Tufts Daily It criticized the university s response to pupil activists demanding that Tufts acknowledge the Palestinian genocide disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel On March immigration representatives surrounded Ozturk in Massachusetts and took her into custody She was then driven to New Hampshire and Vermont and flown to a detention center in Basile Louisiana Her apprentice visa had been revoked several days earlier but she was not informed of that her lawyers commented Ozturk s lawyers first filed a petition on her behalf in Massachusetts but they did not know where she was and were unable to speak to her until more than hours after she was detained A Massachusetts judge later transferred the incident to Vermont A State Department memo disclosed Ozturk s visa was revoked following an assessment that her actions may undermine U S foreign initiative by creating a hostile ecosystem for Jewish students and indicating patronage for a designated terrorist organization including co-authoring an op-ed that ascertained common cause with an organization that was later temporarily banned from campus A Department of Homeland Measure spokesperson reported in March without providing evidence that investigations unveiled that Ozturk engaged in exercises in assistance of Hamas which the U S has designated as a terrorist group This week a federal appeals court upheld Sessions order to bring Ozturk back to New England for hearings to determine whether her constitutional rights including free speech and due process were violated as her lawyers argue Immigration proceedings for Ozturk initiated in Louisiana are being conducted separately in that state and Ozturk can participate remotely the court revealed Rush informed from Portland Oregon Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack and Holly Ramer in Concord New Hampshire and Michael Casey in Boston contributed