A federal appeals court in New York on Monday a lower court鈥檚 order to transfer Tufts University doctoral student R眉meysa 脰zt眉rk from a Louisiana immigration detention facility to Vermont for a hearing.
脰zt眉rk鈥檚 transfer had been by Judge William Sessions earlier this month; she was to be returned to his federal court in Vermont by May 1 to a bail hearing in person. But the government appealed to the Second District last week in an emergency motion.
A panel of three judges will now consider in a May 6 hearing whether 脰zt眉rk can continue to be held in Louisiana during the government鈥檚 appeal.
脰zt眉rk, a 30-year-old Turkish national, was by plainclothes officers on March 25 on a residential street in Somerville and , first to New Hampshire and Vermont, before being flown to the Louisiana detention facility. 脰zt眉rk鈥檚 attorneys say she was unlawfully detained in retaliation for co-writing an op-ed in a student newspaper critical of the school鈥檚 response to Israel鈥檚 war in Gaza.
The order Monday said: 鈥淭he purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.鈥�
If the appeals court sides with the government, 脰zt眉rk鈥檚 lawyers have said the pause could extend her legal ordeal by months.
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