Federal Judge Sets Free Op-Ed Writer

[reposted on the Mises Institute blog and the Libertarian Institute blog and elsewhere]

FEDERAL JUDGE SETS FREE OP-ED WRITER

Federal judge orders Trump administration to release Tufts University grad student Rumeysa Ozturk from ICE lockup. Ozturk, who had a valid student visa from Turkey, was only guilty of writing an op-ed.  Secretary of State Marco Rubio vilified her and Department of Homeland Security officials claimed Ozturk had other sweeping offenses, including that she “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” But the feds could provide no evidence after locking her up for six weeks.  Federal judge William Sessions III declared today, “That literally is the case. There has been no evidence that has been introduced by the government other than the Op-Ed,”

Sessions also declared: ” “Her continued detention cannot stand,” stating that keeping her locked up “potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of people in this country who are not citizens.”

This case is another huge unforced error by Trump team. What if their primary goalto chill the speech of millions of students and others?

Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk’s attorney, declared, “When did speaking up against oppression become a crime? When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?”

Jessie Rossman, another attorney for Ozturk, commented, “For 45 days, Rümeysa has been detained in Louisiana — over 1300 miles from her friends, her community, and her lawyers. During that time, she has suffered regular and escalating asthma attacks. And at the same time, the government has failed to produce any justification for her detention.”

I first wrote about the Ozturk case on March 31 – “First They Came for the Op-Ed Writers.” On April 16, I followed up with “Foreign Student Persecution Imperils Any American Who Advocates for Freedom.” Mises Institute’s Ryan McMaken and I discussed the Ozturk case on a Radio Rothbard podcast entitled: “Why Did Trump Arrest a Student for Writing an Op-ed?”

But this farce isn’t over yet. As Politico noted, “Sessions’ order, while expressing severe doubts about the constitutionality of Ozturk’s detention and deportation, only applies to her immediate confinement. Efforts by the Trump administration to deport Ozturk will continue in immigration court.”

How much longer will the Trump Ozturk Follies continue?