Judge transfers case of detained Turkish PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk to Vermont (Picture credit: AP) A federal judge on Friday ordered the case of Rumeysa Ozturk , a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University , to be moved from Massachusetts to Vermont , where she was briefly held after her arrest by immigration officers last week. Ozturk’s lawyers had filed a petition for her release in Boston, but the department of justice sought to dismiss it or shift it to Louisiana , where she is currently detained. US district judge Denise Casper ruled Vermont was the appropriate venue since Ozturk was held overnight in St Albans, Vermont, when the habeas petition was filed.
“Here, because Ozturk was confined overnight in Vermont when the petition was filed, the District of Vermont is the proper transferee court,” Casper wrote in her decision, as per news agency AP. Casper rejected the government’s argument that the case should be moved to Louisiana, stating the transfer to Vermont serves “the interest of justice.” She also blocked any attempt to remove Ozturk from the US until Vermont courts decide on jurisdiction.
According to NBC News, the deportation ban remains in place unless lifted by the transferee court. Ozturk was arrested on March 25 in Somerville, Massachusetts, after her student visa was revoked. Footage showed Homeland Security agents in plain clothes surrounding her and placing her in a vehicle as she screamed.
After stops in New Hampshire and Vermont, she wa.
