Washington (May 9, 2025) - Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Representatives Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Jim McGovern (MA-02) released the following statement after the United States District Court for the District of Vermont granted bail to Rümeysa Öztürk and directed the Trump administration to release her from detention. On March 25, 2025, Ms. Öztürk, a PhD student at Tufts University, was abducted by six plainclothes ICE agents off the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts. She was quickly moved across state lines and shipped more than 1,500 miles away from her community to a detention facility in Louisiana. 

“We are relieved that Rümeysa has finally been ordered released. Let us be clear: Rümeysa should have never been abducted off the streets of Somerville, had her visa revoked, and been moved to a detention site more than 1,500 miles away, all in violation of her constitutional rights. Rümeysa has been unlawfully detained for six weeks in an ICE facility in Louisiana, where she has suffered intolerable living conditions and multiple intense and worsening asthma attacks. We applaud the district court’s decision to grant bail and order her release from detention, while her habeas petition is resolved. Rümeysa is a cherished member of her community, and we are relieved that she can finally return to Massachusetts. This is a victory for Rümeysa, for justice, and for our democracy.”

On April 22, Senator Markey and Representatives Pressley and McGovern, along with Representative Bennie Thompson (MS-02), Ranking Member of House Committee on Homeland Security, and Representative Troy Carter (LA-02), visited the Louisiana ICE facility where Rümeysa Öztürk was being held. Also on April 22, Senator Markey, Representative Pressley, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons to demand answers about the Trump administration’s concerning practice of detaining individuals, such as Öztürk, far from their attorneys and communities and in legal environments where their rights are more difficult to defend. The Trump administration is forum shopping to obtain a legal outcome favorable to its deportation agenda.

###