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A federal court today ordered the government to immediately release Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national who has been held in ICE custody since March 25.
Mike Hiestand, the senior legal counsel at the Student Press Law Center, made the following statement:
“Today’s hearing was unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Like me, the judge cannot believe this is happening in America. A student here lawfully was taken off a city street by masked, plainclothes government agents and flown to a detention facility a thousand miles away solely — SOLELY — because of the lawful opinions she expressed in an op-ed published in a student newspaper. Today’s ruling is a victory for free speech, but the chilling effect of the government’s actions are serious and long-lasting.”
U.S. District Judge William Sessions III noted that the government had provided no evidence against Ozturk other than that she co-authored an op-ed in the Tufts Daily student newspaper addressing her university’s actions related to the war in Gaza.
“The court finds that Ms. Öztürk has raised a substantial claim of a constitutional violation,” Sessions said.
SPLC and 14 other press freedom organizations previously condemned the detention of Ozturk on such a basis, calling it “a blatant disregard for the principles of free speech and free press within the First Amendment.”
Following the arrest, SPLC has seen a flood of anxious questions from college and high school journalists across the country. Inquiries to the organization’s free Legal Hotline were up 27% in March and April, compared to the same period last year — which included last spring’s campus protests and demonstrations.
Student media leaders report to SPLC being inundated with requests from fearful sources and staff members asking to remove their names and bylines from past stories. Other student editors want to know how to protect their sources and staff members moving forward.
On April 4, a coalition of national student media organizations, led by SPLC, took the unprecedented step of releasing a “Student Media Alert” to warn about the threats to student speech posed by Ozturk’s arrest and other recent immigration enforcement actions. The alert recommended student media leaders revisit their policies on takedown requests and anonymous sources, particularly for those whose immigration status may make them targets for their lawful speech. It also provides resources to aid in those decisions.
SPLC also recently published a set of frequently asked questions related to covering ICE raids on campus, and it hosted an off-the-record town hall with college editors to provide them an opportunity to exchange advice.
If you are a student journalist with a legal question, contact the SPLC Legal Hotline. Reporters interested in an interview or a comment from an SPLC expert, please email media@splc.org.
The Student Press Law Center promotes, supports and defends the free press rights of student journalists and their advisers. As the nation’s only legal nonprofit focused on the rights of student journalists, SPLC provides information, training and legal assistance at no charge to high school and college student journalists and the educators who work with them.