Overview

• Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University PhD student, was detained by ICE in March after her student visa was revoked following her co-authorship of a pro-Palestinian op-ed.
• The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ordered her case to be heard in Vermont, with a May 14 deadline for her transfer from Louisiana to a Vermont detention facility.
• A bail hearing is scheduled for Friday, May 9, where Öztürk will appear remotely due to delays in her transfer; the judge may rule on her release or take the matter under advisement.
• Her attorneys argue that her detention violates her First Amendment rights and cite her chronic asthma, which has worsened in detention, as a pressing health concern.
• Öztürk’s case has drawn national attention as part of broader debates on immigration enforcement, campus activism, and free speech under the Trump administration.