Opinion Granting Bail to Rumeysa Ozturk (Lead Author of Op-Ed Urging Boycott of Israel)
From today’s opinion by Judge William Sessions in Ozturk v. Trump (D. Vt.), providing the written explanation for a May 9 order granting bail to Ozturk [UPDATE: you can read Ozturk’s op-ed here]:
To briefly summarize, Ms. Ozturk has argued that her arrest and detention are retaliation for her co-authorship of an op-ed in a student newspaper. The government has identified her op-ed, and potentially related associations, as the precipitating factor for her visa revocation. As the Court cited in its April 18, 2025, Opinion and Order, then-candidate Trump reportedly threatened to deport foreign students involved in campus protests. Â And Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in response to press inquiries about Ms. Ozturk’s arrest, opined that Ms. Ozturk’s activities “meet the standard of what I’ve just described to you: people that are supportive of movements that run counter to the foreign policy of the United States” and that detention was “basically asking them to leave the country.”
Arrest and detention, let alone termination of status, are not a natural consequence of visa revocation. Ms. Ozturk has presented credible evidence to show that similarly situated individuals historically have not been detained following visa revocation or termination of status.
To date, the government has neither rebutted the argument that retaliation for Ms. Ozturk’s op-ed was the motivation for her detention nor identified another specific reason for Ms. Ozturk’s detention, arguing instead that such decisions are committed to the discretion of the executive branch. While it is uncontested that the government has discretion in this area, that discretion is not accompanied by the authority to violate the Constitution.
The Court need not decide at this stage whether Ms. Ozturk’s detention actually constitutes a First Amendment violation. As the April 18 opinion established, Ms. Ozturk’s op-ed carries all the hallmarks of protected speech on public issues, and it does not fall into any recognized exception….  The Court therefore concluded that Ms. Ozturk has presented, at the very least, a substantial claim of a First Amendment violation.
{The Court invites further briefing on the appropriate standard for First Amendment retaliation claims in civil immigration habeas proceedings prior to final disposition. In addition, the Court not
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