A federal appeals court recently agreed with a judge's order to bring a Turkish Tufts University student back to New England from a Louisiana immigration detention center. This is so there can be hearings to find out if her rights were broken and if she should be let go.

The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, rejecting a government plea for postponement, sided with Rumeysa Ozturk following Tuesday's hearing. Ozturk's presence in Louisiana for over six weeks stemmed from a co-authored op-ed last year, which critiqued the institution's stance on Israel's conflict in Gaza.

The court mandated Ozturk's transfer into ICE custody in Vermont by May 14 at the latest.

Immigration court proceedings for Ozturk, commenced in Louisiana, are being handled separately and Ozturk is permitted to participate virtually, the court stated.

A judge in a Vermont court ordered that the 30-year-old student be brought to the state for meetings to decide if she was held illegally. Ozturk’s lawyers say that holding her goes against her rights under the constitution, such as the right to speak freely and the right to a fair legal process.

The initial deadline was May 1. A hearing regarding her application for bail was set in Burlington for Friday, with a subsequent hearing on May 22.

The Justice Department, which challenged that verdict, maintained that the immigration court in Louisiana held authority over Ozturk’s situation. The appellate court temporarily halted the transfer directive last week while it evaluated an urgent petition submitted by the administration. However, on Wednesday, the court declined to accede to the plea for a prolonged postponement.

The appeals court agreed that the Vermont court was the right place to hear Ozturk’s request to be released. It also said the government did not prove that it would suffer "irreparable injury." The court concluded that Ozturk’s need to be at the Vermont hearings in person was more important than the government's costs for administration and logistics.

The government claims that facilitating Ozturk's remote appearance for her immigration hearings in Louisiana would present obstacles, yet it has not contested the legal and practical feasibility of her attending removal proceedings remotely.

An email requesting comment was sent to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Immigration officials apprehended Ozturk on March 25 while she was walking in a Boston suburb, subsequently transporting her through New Hampshire and Vermont before ultimately placing her on a flight to a detention facility in Basile, Louisiana. Her student visa had been rescinded days prior, a fact of which, according to her legal counsel, she remained unaware.

Initially, Ozturk's legal representatives lodged a petition in Massachusetts, but they were unaware of her whereabouts and could not communicate with her for over a day following her detention; subsequently, a judge in Massachusetts moved the case to Vermont.

"The government now contends that this transfer was improper. The government is mistaken," the appeals court asserted.

Last year, Ozturk was among four students who authored an opinion piece in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, which critiqued the university's reaction to student activists advocating for Tufts to "recognise the Palestinian genocide," reveal its investments, and divest from companies linked to Israel.

A memo from the State Department said Ozturk's visa was cancelled because her actions "might harm U.S. foreign policy by making a bad environment for Jewish students and showing support for a known terrorist group." This included writing an article with an organization that was later not allowed on campus for a while.

In March, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security asserted, though without substantiation, that inquiries had revealed Ozturk's involvement in actions supporting Hamas, an organization designated as terrorist by the U.S.

"The detention of individuals solely on the basis of their political beliefs is unacceptable," stated Esha Bhandari, an attorney representing Ozturk. "Every day Ozturk is held in custody is a miscarriage of justice. We commend the court's decision to prevent the government from isolating her from her community and legal representation as she seeks her release."