Judge denies DOJ request to move Tufts student ICE case to Louisiana

A federal judge moved the case of Rumeysa Özturk, a Tufts University graduate student, to a Vermont jurisdiction following a Justice Department request to place her in Louisiana.

Özturk was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Boston suburb of Somerville, Massachusetts, on March 25 and has been held in an immigration detention facility in Louisiana.

“The government asserts that this Court lacks jurisdiction over the Petition as Özturk, unknown to anyone but the government, was in Vermont, not Massachusetts at the time the Petition was filed and, as of 2:35 p.m. on March 26, 2025, was in Louisiana, where she remains,” U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper for Massachusetts wrote in her order.

The Obama appointee said her order blocking Özturk from being

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