Defending Speech We Hate

NEW YORK – The Second Circuit Court of Appeals today denied the Trump administration’s attempt to further delay Rümeysa Öztürk’s transfer to Vermont. The appeals court ordered the government to comply with a lower court’s ruling to move Ms. Öztürk from a Louisiana detention center to a facility in Vermont. The government must do so within one week. “No one should be arrested and locked up for their political views. Every day that Rümeysa Öztürk remains in detention is a day too long. We’re grateful the court refused the government’s attempt to keep her isolated from her community and her legal counsel as she pursues her case for release,” said Esha Bhandari, deputy director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Ms. Öztürk, a former Fulbright scholar and current Tufts University Ph.D. student researching child development, has been held in a Louisiana detention center for six weeks — all in retaliation for co-authoring an op-ed in her student newspaper. On March 25, while Ms. Öztürk was on the phone with her mom, plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents surrounded her in Somerville, Massachusetts and arrested her. 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. “Every day Ms. Öztürk spends in confinement is an affront to the constitution. Her constitutional injury is only compounded by the deplorable conditions she must suffer through. Today, the court rightfully declined to play along with the government’s latest attempt to keep Ms. Öztürk separated from her community and legal counsel. We will continue to advocate for Ms. Öztürk until she is released,” said Mudassar Toppa, staff attorney at CLEAR, a legal non-profit and clinic at CUNY School of Law Since she arrived in Louisiana, Ms. Öztürk has lived in a cramped room with poor ventilation and 23 other women for almost all hours of the day. In new filings in her federal court case in Vermont, she says she has suffered several asthma attacks that have “become progressively harder to recover from” while in detention. Whereas her attacks used to last between 5-15 minutes, they now can last up to 45 minutes. She is regularly exposed to asthma triggers including insect and rodent droppings, and is almost never exposed to fresh air. The court filings also describe difficulty receiving appropriate care in detention, including delays to receive medical care and dismissive comments from medical staff. “Rümeysa has suffered six weeks in crowded confinement without adequate access to medical care and in conditions that doctors say risk exacerbating her asthma attacks. Her detention — over an op-ed she co-authored in her student newspaper — is as cruel as it is unconstitutional,” said Jessie Rossman, legal director, ACLU of Massachusetts. “Today, we moved one step closer to returning Rümeysa to her community and studies in Massachusetts.” A federal judge in Vermont will hold hearings regarding Ms. Öztürk's motion to be released on bail on May 9 and the merits of the habeas petition on May 22. “The government’s efforts to deny Rümeysa access to justice by deploying these gratuitous delay tactics have once again been rightfully blocked by the courts,” said Lia Ernst, legal director, ACLU of Vermont. “Today’s ruling affirms that her swift transfer to Vermont is essential, and we will continue fighting until she is free.” Ms. Öztürk is represented in immigration court by Mahsa Khanbabai and Marty Rosenbluth, and in federal court 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.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – In a major victory for Georgetown scholar Dr. Badar Khan Suri and a huge blow to the Trump administration, today a federal court ruled that Dr. Suri’s habeas case alleging violations of his constitutional rights may remain in Virginia. Federal immigration agents illegally arrested Dr. Khan Suri on March 17, 2025 in retaliation for his constitutionally-protected speech in support of Palestinian rights and his family’s ties to Gaza, and then secretly transported him to Louisiana and then Texas in an effort to prevent him from accessing the courts. Since then, the Trump administration has detained Dr. Khan Suri in an ICE facility 1,500 miles away from his family, despite the fact that he is a lawful visa holder married to a U.S. citizen. His unlawful arrest and detention are an extreme and unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and part of the Trump administration’s escalation of attacks against students and Palestinian rights advocates. “In just four days, ICE transferred Dr. Khan Suri among five different ICE facilities across three states – while keeping his counsel in the dark about his whereabouts – and he’s not the only one,” said ACLU-VA Legal Director Eden Heilman. “The Trump administration tried to do the same thing to Mr. Khalil, Ms. Ozturk, and Mr. Mahdawi in order to find a court it believed would be friendlier to its unlawful detention of people advocating for Palestinian rights. We are pleased the court saw through the Trump administration’s attempts to manipulate the law, and we won’t stop fighting until Dr. Khan Suri is reunited with his family.” Dr. Khan Suri’s federal court challenge to the constitutionality of his arrest and detention will now proceed in Virginia, where his wife and three young children live. The federal court in Virginia will hear Dr. Khan Suri’s motions to compel his return to Virginia and to be released on bond at a hearing on May 14, 2025. Separately, in Dr. Khan Suri’s immigration case, the immigration court in Texas has scheduled a follow-up hearing for June 3, 2025. “In this important ruling, the court has rightfully rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to spirit Dr. Khan Suri away from Virginia to manufacture jurisdiction in whatever court it pleases,” said Astha Sharma Pokharel, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “We will now continue fighting for Dr. Khan Suri’s freedom — his freedom to be with his family in Virginia, to continue his studies and work at Georgetown, and to stand in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.” In today’s ruling, the court found that the government’s “abnormal and rapid movement [of Dr. Khan Suri] across state lines” demanded an exception to the normal jurisdictional rules for the filing of habeas petitions by a person in government custody in order not to reward the government’s attempt at forum shopping. A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration last month when it found that the court can review former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil’s First Amendment claims challenging his arrest and detention. Another federal judge ruled against the Trump administration last week when it ordered the release of Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi on bond. And yet another federal judge ruled against the Trump administration when it ordered Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk to be transferred back to Vermont from Louisiana. Dr. Khan Suri is challenging his arrest and detention under the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and the Administrative Procedure Act, and is represented in his federal lawsuit by the ACLU of Virginia, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the HMA Law Firm, and the Immigrants and Non-Citizens Rights Clinic at the CUNY School of Law. For more information, please see the case page.

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit Court of Appeals today denied the government permission to appeal the issue of where Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil’s habeas case should play out. Back in April, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled that it is the proper venue for Mr. Khalil’s habeas petition, as he was detained there when the petition was filed. The government argued that the venue should lie in Louisiana — because that is where the government shipped Mr. Khalil and is unlawfully detaining him — and sought to appeal the district court’s ruling. In today’s order, the Third Circuit denied that request. As a result, the case will continue to proceed in the District of New Jersey. The circuit court judges who issued the denial included Judges Stephanos Bibas, a Donald Trump appointee, Thomas Hardiman, a George W. Bush appointee, and Arianna Freeman, who was appointed by Joe Biden. “It is the fundamental job of the judiciary to stand up to this kind of government manipulation of our basic rights. We hope the court’s order sends a strong message to other courts around the country facing government attempts to shop for favorable jurisdictions by moving people detained on unconstitutional immigration charges around and making it difficult or impossible for their lawyers to know where to seek their immediate release,” said Brett Max Kaufman, a senior counsel with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. ​​On March 8, the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) illegally arrested and detained Mr. Khalil in direct retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights at Columbia University. Shortly after, DHS transferred him 1,400 miles away to a Louisiana detention facility — ripping him away from his wife and legal counsel. While stuck in detention, he was forced to miss the birth of his first child. Mr. Khalil is represented by Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional Rights, CLEAR, Van Der Hout LLP, Washington Square Legal Services, the American Civil Liberties Union, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), and the ACLU of New Jersey.

NEW YORK – The Second Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments tomorrow, May 6 at 10 a.m. on whether a federal judge’s order to transfer Rümeysa Öztürk to Vermont should be granted or further delayed. Ms. Öztürk, a former Fulbright scholar and current Tufts University Ph.D. student researching child development, has been held in a Louisiana detention center for over a month — all in retaliation for co-authoring an op-ed. On March 25, while on the phone with her mom, plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents surrounded her in Somerville, Massachusetts and arrested her. 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. In early April, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that the challenge to ICE’s detention of Ms. Öztürk should continue in Vermont, not Louisiana. A Vermont judge later agreed that Ms. Öztürk’s federal case should continue in Vermont and ordered ICE to transfer her back to a Vermont facility by May 1. The government appealed on April 24. And last week, without ruling on the merits, the appeals court agreed to consider both the government’s request to keep her in Louisiana and her legal team’s opposition. Since she arrived in Louisiana, Ms. Öztürk has lived in a cramped room with poor ventilation and 23 other women for almost all hours of the day. In new filings in her federal court case in Vermont, she says she has suffered several asthma attacks that have “become progressively harder to recover from” while in detention. Whereas her attacks used to last between 5-15 minutes, they now can last up to 45 minutes. She is regularly exposed to asthma triggers including insect and rodent droppings, and is almost never exposed to fresh air. The new filings also describe difficulty receiving appropriate care in detention, including delays to receive medical care and dismissive comments from medical staff. She has suffered six weeks of a detention that is as harmful as it is unlawful. The Second Circuit will also hear arguments on Tuesday on the government’s motion to consolidate the cases of Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi, a move both students’ legal teams oppose. Ms. Öztürk is represented in immigration court by Mahsa Khanbabai and Marty Rosenbluth, and in federal court by Mahsa Khanbabai, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Massachusetts, ACLU of Vermont, CLEAR, and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. Audio access to the hearing is available here.