Padma Lakshmi on Immigration, Food, and Authorship

BURLINGTON, Vt. – A federal court today ordered the release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a former Fulbright scholar and current Tufts University Ph.D. student researching child development. This comes more than six weeks after the Trump administration arrested and detained her because of an op-ed she co-authored in The Tufts Daily. With this ruling, she will be able to return to her Massachusetts community and continue her studies while the case proceeds. “I am relieved and ecstatic that Rümeysa has been ordered released. Unfortunately, it is 45 days too late. She has been imprisoned all these days for simply writing an op-ed that called for human rights and dignity for the people in Palestine. When did speaking up against oppression become a crime? When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?” said Mahsa Khanbabai of Khanbabai Immigration Law. “I am thankful that the courts have been ruling in favor of detained political prisoners like Rümeysa. The public plays an important role in upholding our constitutional rights. Please continue to speak up for democracy and civil rights in every space including our elected offices, our universities, and our halls of justice.” Ms. Öztürk, who has not been accused of any crime, was taken by plainclothes ICE agents in Somerville, Massachusetts on March 25. For nearly 24 hours, Ms. Öztürk’s attorney was unable to locate her as ICE quickly and quietly moved her to three separate locations in three different states — including Vermont — before sending her to Louisiana. “From the moment a swarm of ICE agents abducted Ms. Öztürk in broad daylight, the government has spared no effort to evade accountability and deny her due process. Today, the court delivered reprieve and justice — for Ms. Öztürk, who should not have spent even one minute incarcerated, let alone the six weeks she has endured in deplorable conditions at an ICE detention center in Louisiana,” said Mudassar Toppa, staff attorney at CLEAR, a legal non-profit and clinic at CUNY School of Law. “Make no mistake, the government tried to punish Ms. Öztürk for lending her pen to advocacy for Palestinian human rights and the court's decision today is not only a victory for Ms. Öztürk, but everyone who wishes to advocate for Palestinian human rights without fear of retaliation. We look forward to continuing the legal fight to vindicate all of her constitutional rights.” Ms. Öztürk has detailed her harrowing night being shuttled across New England with little food after a day of fasting for Ramadan. She describes being shackled by her feet and stomach and then driven to different sites for meetings with unidentified men, some in uniform and some not. One group so unsettled her, Ms. Öztürk wrote, that she “was sure they were going to kill me.” At another stop, she repeatedly asked an officer if she was in physical danger. “For 45 days, Rümeysa has been detained in Louisiana — over 1300 miles from her friends, her community, and her lawyers. During that time, she has suffered regular and escalating asthma attacks. And at the same time, the government has failed to produce any justification for her detention,” said Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “We are so relieved that Rümeysa will soon be back in Massachusetts, and won’t stop fighting until she is free for good.” Ms. Öztürk has suffered six weeks of crowded confinement in Louisiana with hardly any access to fresh air and in conditions that doctors say risk exacerbating her asthma attacks. Whereas her attacks used to last between 5 - 15 minutes, they now can last up to 45 minutes. Recent court filings also describe difficulty receiving appropriate care in detention, including delays to receive medical care and dismissive comments from medical staff. Since the government arrested Ms. Öztürk, her community at Tufts and around the country have rallied around her. Hundreds of friends, colleagues, and professors, including the president of Tufts University, have sent letters of support to the court detailing Ms. Öztürk’s dedication to her work and her community. “Rümeysa can now return to her beloved Tufts community, resume her studies, and begin teaching again. We could not be more delighted,” said Noor Zafar, senior staff attorney with ACLU. “Today’s ruling underscores a vital First Amendment principle: No one should be imprisoned by the government for expressing their beliefs.” “After today’s ruling, Rümeysa can return to her community at Tufts and sleep safely in her own bed. Tomorrow, she can wake up and begin the process of healing from this experience while she finishes her Ph.D. in child development.” said Monica Allard, staff attorney with the ACLU of Vermont. “Spending over six weeks in detention for writing an op-ed is a constitutional horror story. Her release is a victory for everyone committed to justice, free speech, and basic human rights.” “The government sent masked, plainclothes agents to kidnap Rümeysa off the street and lock her up for writing an op-ed. She has been a political prisoner for six weeks,” said Sonya Levitova, associate at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. “Now that she’s free and can resume her studies and rejoin her community at Tufts, we look forward to seeing the government in court to vindicate Rümeysa’s rights in full.” Ms. Öztürk is represented by Mahsa Khanbabai, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Massachusetts, ACLU of Vermont, CLEAR, and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. For documents and other case information, see here.

WASHINGTON — Reports yesterday emerged that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) quietly revoked several Biden-era policies designed to protect vulnerable people in its custody, including pregnant people, infants, the elderly, and people with serious medical conditions. These policies included the provision of water and diapers to babies in CBP care and guidance to expedite the release to care of people in medically dangerous circumstances. The decision was outlined in an internal memo signed by acting CBP commissioner Pete Flores earlier this week, where he stated that the policies were “misaligned with the agency’s current guidance and immigration enforcement priorities.” The ACLU, alongside the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties and partners, have repeatedly raised concerns with the lack of medical care and appalling conditions that young children were subjected to while in border patrol facilities. After a woman was forced to give birth in a border patrol station while holding onto a garbage can, the ACLU advocated for the expedited release to medical care of people who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing. The ACLU also pressed for CBP to provide adequate care for those in its custody in light of multiple tragedies, including the death of 8-year-old Anadith Reyes who died after a week in custody without necessary medical attention. In response to this news, Sarah Mehta, deputy director of policy and government affairs for immigration at the ACLU, had the following reaction: “The rescission of these policies — outlining the most basic care that should be provided to the most vulnerable people — is reflective of the cruelty that anchors the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. CBP has a track record of providing inadequate medical care to young children and pregnant people in its custody, resulting in multiple preventable tragedies. Instead of making meaningful reforms to protect medically vulnerable people in its custody, it is doubling down on its utter disregard for families and children. “Though the agency attempted to quietly revoke protections, our members of Congress must not allow this move to go unnoticed.”

WASHINGTON – New documents obtained by the ACLU this week reveal further details about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention capacity in facilities nationwide. Notably, for the first time ever, ICE directly provided information regarding the total capacity of facilities run by private prison corporation, GEO Group, Inc. (GEO). The records, obtained as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the ACLU in September 2024, also reveal specific proposal details regarding the North Lake Detention Facility in Baldwin, MI, and the Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo, TX. “Communities across the country are being torn apart by the Trump administration’s cruel mass deportation agenda, fueled in part by ICE’s detention machine,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project. "For the first time, the government has disclosed the capacity of immigration detention facilities run by GEO, the largest private prison corporation in the U.S. Each detail revealed through our litigation is critical to understanding how this infrastructure – and taxpayer dollars – could be wielded to detain immigrants who contribute to our communities and our economy.” GEO runs 100 facilities globally, with a capacity of approximately 81,000 beds across those facilities. Notably, documents obtained by the ACLU reveal that more than 22,000 beds – over a quarter of GEO’s global capacity – are used for ICE detention facilities in the United States. The documents also reveal that GEO runs 20 facilities under contract with ICE across the country, including in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington. The FOIA documents also revealed details surrounding contracts for the North Lake Detention Facility, a previously vacant facility in rural Michigan that will soon serve as the one of the largest ICE detention hubs in the Midwest. They also revealed further information about GEO’s offer to ICE for more beds at the Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo, TX, a facility currently used by both ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service. Currently, the Rio Grande facility has a capacity of 1,900 beds, and is contracted to detain up to 672 people for ICE. The FOIA documents are available here: https://www.aclu.org/documents/aclu-foia-documents-revealing-ice-capacity-contracts-with-geo-group-inc-2