Fuck Ice!

“A federal judge in Vermont has ordered that Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University doctoral student and Turkish national, be immediately released from federal custody. Judge William K. Sessions’ ruling Friday comes more than six weeks after masked immigration agents picked her up on a suburban Boston street as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian student activists.”

This is fantastic news. Unfortunately, there is no confirmation yet that she has been released from the Louisiana Gulag that she was sent to. (see update below) Hopefully, they will comply, but if not, this may be the moment of constitutional crisis with the courts that has been looming since inauguration day.

And further proof, the government isn’t fooling anybody but themselves, the judge stated:

…that her arrest and detention appeared likely to have been carried out solely in retaliation for an op-ed she wrote in a campus newspaper criticizing her school leaders’ response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

You can read the rest of the NPR article here. If you haven’t already, you should read my previous post on Rümeysa’s abduction.

EDITED TO ADD:

She was released a few hours after the court order. Again, see NPR for the details.

EDITED TO ADD:

“Ms. Ozturk’s release was in fact delayed when the government sought to make her wear an ankle monitor, prompting Judge Sessions to issue a second order on Friday for her to be released without it.” (New York Times)

I want to say the above is inconceivable, but I am pretty sure someone would point out that it doesn’t mean what I think it means. What a bunch of aragant assholes.