Ozturk v. Hyde (Ozturk habeas, 2d Cir. appeal)
Case Overview
The government appealed Judge Session's order retaining court jurisdiction.
The Facts
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national on a student visa, co-authored an op-ed in the Tufts student newspaper calling on the university to divest from Israeli-linked funds and acknowledge the Gaza conflict as a genocide. DHS revoked her visa and ICE detained her at Logan Airport in March 2025. She was transferred to Louisiana, but District Judge Indira Talwani (D. Mass.) retained jurisdiction and ordered her not moved further pending proceedings. The government appealed that jurisdictional order to the First Circuit.
The Application
Judge Talwani retained jurisdiction by applying the habeas rule that an original court need not be divested merely by the government's subsequent transfer of the detainee to another circuit. The First Amendment rule operates as a constraint on the government's immigration authority: Ozturk's op-ed, calling for divestment and naming Gaza a genocide, appears protected political speech, placing a heavy burden on the government to demonstrate the visa revocation was not retaliatory. Whether the First Circuit affirms or reverses jurisdiction will determine whether the district court can proceed to evaluate whether the government exceeded its authority by weaponizing immigration against protected expression.
The Conclusion
If the First Circuit affirms jurisdiction, the district court will proceed to the merits of Ozturk's First Amendment and due process claims, potentially requiring her release and raising broader limits on visa revocations tied to political speech. If the First Circuit finds jurisdiction lies in Louisiana where Ozturk was held, the case shifts circuits and her Boston counsel would need to refile, delaying any relief.
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