Judge Orders Release of Rumeysa Ozturk, Tufts Student Detained by ICE

Ms. Ozturk testified that she had been confined with 23 other women in a space intended for 14 people. Stress and the smells of cleaning supplies had exacerbated her asthma, she said. But when she sought treatment, the medical staff at the detention center had been condescending and had raised their voices at her, she said, and a nurse had ripped off her head scarf.

She testified that it was “impossible” to work on her dissertation in detention because she did not have access to her computer, professors, library or peers. Ms. Ozturk, who specializes in children’s media, is due to finish her doctoral dissertation in December and to obtain her degree in February, according to the testimony.

Her adviser, Sara Johnson, testified that Ms. Ozturk had been doing innovative research on how adolescents used social media to benefit other people.

In describing her ties to the Tufts community, Ms. Ozturk said she had helped organize an event with colleagues where community members came together to express grief for children in conflict areas around the world, “from Gaza to Israel, from Russia to Ukraine, from Congo to Haiti, from Sudan to Yemen, from Cameroon to Afghanistan, from all parts of the world.”

The judge’s decision was another defeat for the government’s efforts to deport international students associated with pro-Palestinian advocacy. A week ago, a different federal judge in Vermont, Geoffrey W. Crawford, ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia student, from detention on bail.

Mr. Mahdawi is a permanent resident of the United States and is about to graduate from Columbia in May. His lawyers say that the government detained him in retaliation for his pro-Palestinian activism. He was arrested on April 14, after a naturalization interview at an immigration field office.