Tufts University petitioned a federal judge to release student Rümeysa Öztürk late Wednesday, some of the strongest public pushback by a school against the Trump administration's arrests of foreign students.
A hearing in Öztürk's case is scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts.
Immigration authorities arrested Öztürk, a doctoral student from Turkey, on March 25 in Somerville, Massachusetts, the home of Tufts. She is being held at a detention center in Louisiana.
Video shows several Department of Homeland Security officers in plainclothes surrounding Öztürk, grabbing her by the wrists and taking her away into an SUV as she screams out in confusion.
In its written declaration, Tufts said it saw no reason for her detention, calling her "a valued member of the community."
"The University seeks relief so that Ms. Öztürk is released without delay so that she can return to complete her studies and finish her degree at Tufts University," it said.
A lawyer for the Justice Department who is representing the federal government in the case declined to comment.
The Trump administration has cited a rarely used provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Öztürk's and other students' arrests in recent weeks. The rarely executed clause allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the country would result in “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."
Esha Bhandari, one of Öztürk's attorneys, told NBC News that under the Trump administration's reasoning, they "can use this provision ... to suppress all kinds of speech that is opposed to this government's foreign policy."
"You can see how opposition to the administration on climate change might be seen as a foreign policy interest, opposition to the government’s policies on Ukraine might trigger foreign policy interests," she said in a phone call. "Any criticism of the government's foreign policy itself could be deemed a foreign policy consequence meriting removal."
Tufts noted in its declaration that Öztürk co-authored an opinion piece in the university's student newspaper last year criticizing the university's response to the war in Gaza and demanding it divest from ties to Israel. The university said the piece did not violate its policies or "constitute a violation of the University’s understanding of the Immigration and Naturalization Act."
It also raised concerns that her detention implicated its international students' “free movement.”
"The University has heard from students, faculty and staff who are forgoing opportunities to speak at international conferences and avoiding or postponing international travel," the university wrote. "In the worst cases, many report being fearful of leaving their homes, even to attend and teach classes on campus."
Within the last four weeks, immigration authorities have revoked student visas and apprehended several international students — including Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil — associated with several universities, including Columbia, Cornell University and Georgetown University. None of the students have been charged with crimes.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a news conference last week that the State Department revoked more than 300 student visas and intends to continue doing so.
"We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” Rubio said.
The universities have issued statements acknowledging the apprehensions and trying to calm student concerns but have done little to push back against the administration in public.
“Tufts’ statement confirms that it is possible to take a principled position,” Eric Lee, an attorney for a Cornell graduate student whose visa was recently revoked, said in a text message. “It shows that nothing whatsoever requires schools like Cornell, Yale and Columbia collaborate with Trump's attacks on the Bill of Rights."
As student arrests pile up, the Trump administration has also paused hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to four universities: Columbia, Harvard University, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania.
The administration has accused the universities, aside from Penn, of not doing enough to quell antisemitism on their campuses. The White House said in a statement last month that it was pausing $175 million in federal funding to Penn because it previously allowed a transgender woman to compete on its women's swimming team.
As outlined in a reply brief in support of the amended petition they filed in court Wednesday, Öztürk’s attorneys will argue that her detention was retaliation for the op-ed and that she should be released immediately.
“Rumeysa’s arrest and detention are designed to punish her speech and chill the speech of others," the petition reads. "Indeed, her arrest and detention are part of a concerted and systemic effort by Trump administration officials to punish students and others identified with pro-Palestine activism."
Öztürk’s lawyers also argued that she should be returned to Massachusetts from the detention center that authorities moved her to in Louisiana.
At the hearing Thursday, Öztürk’s attorney argued that Massachusetts had jurisdiction over the case because she was physically in a vehicle controlled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement respondents based in Massachusetts when the petition was filed in federal court. If not Massachusetts, Öztürk’s attorneys said, the case should be transferred to Vermont, because it was the last place she was taken before she was transferred to Louisiana.
Conversely, the government argued that Louisiana has jurisdiction over the case because Öztürk is being held there.
The judge declined to rule on the jurisdiction from the bench.
Several other students arrested in recent weeks have similarly been moved thousands of miles away from their homes and the sites of their arrests to detention centers in Louisiana. NBC News has reported on human rights abuses taking place at detention centers in the state.
