Judiciary pushes back against Trump deportation regime in Khalil, Öztürk rulings

The judiciary pushed back against Donald Trump's deportation regime again on Wednesday, ordering officials to take action in ongoing cases against pro-Palestinian activists. 

A federal appeals court ordered immigration officials to move detained Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk to Vermont, giving the government 10 days to comply.

Plainclothes officers arrested Öztürk in Somerville, Mass. in March and quickly moved to detention facilities in Vermont and then Louisiana, in a blatant attempt to bring her immigration case in a venue friendly to the Trump administration. Öztürk has not been charged with a crime and filed a habeas petition to question her detention in Vermont. Öztürk's attorneys maintain that she was arrested for her part in an opinion piece criticizing Tufts' response to the war in Gaza, while the Trump administration has accused her of "engag[ing] in activities in support of Hamas."

Öztürk's petition has moved forward even as she has been held in Louisiana. In their Wednesday ruling, the court said that Öztürk's need to attend these hearings outweighs any logistical concerns of the government.

"Today's ruling does not prevent the continued detention of Ms. Ozturk, and we will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country," Department of Homeland Security Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NPR after the ruling.

In another high-profile deportation case, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to lay out their precedent for deporting Mahmoud Khalil. The former Columbia University grad student was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents in March over his participation in pro-Palestine protests at the university.

Authorities are seeking to deport Khalil, who is a permanent U.S. resident, as a threat to U.S. foreign policy. District Court Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered Trump officials to supply every deportation that has been carried out under similar reasoning, setting a deadline of Thursday morning. Farbiarz had previously blocked the removal of Khalil, allowing claims that his rights to free speech were being violated to be heard by the courts.