A federal judge in Vermont ordered Tufts University doctoral student and Turkish national rümeysaöztürk to be released immediately by federal custody. William K. Sessions' ruling Friday came after masked immigration agents in a suburb of Boston as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestine student activists, more than six weeks after a ruling in the Boston suburbs.

A judge in the U.S. District Court of Vermont said in the ruling that her arrest and detention appeared to be just a retaliation for a column she wrote in a campus newspaper that criticized her school leaders' response to the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza.

"I advised the government that they would generate any other information, which showed she posed a significant risk," Sessions said. "That was three weeks ago, the government had no evidence other than professionalism. Literally, there was no evidence here."

The meeting added: "The Court held that Ms. Öztürk made a significant claim on constitutional violations."

He ordered immediate release, rejecting the government's demand to allow immigration officials to put conditions on their own freedom. The meeting called Öztürk's experience of "traumatic events" and said “Her continued detention could lead to millions of individuals who are not citizens of this country to speak.”

Ozturk's release is the latest legal setback for the Trump administration as it tries to fulfill the president's commitment to expel non-citizens of what the White House calls anti-Semitic campus activism. Last week, another federal judge ordered the government Free Mohsen Mahdawia Palestinian student at Columbia University protested the leader, despite his identity as a legal permanent resident, who also tried to deport.

Like Mahdawi, Öztürk still faces possible deportation. But Friday's ruling means she won't be locked in the fight against the government's attempt to revoke her legal status.

"We are delighted that we have been ordered to be released," her lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai said in a statement. "Unfortunately it was already 45 days late. These days she has been imprisoned just to write a column that demands human rights and dignity for the Palestinian people. When do those who oppose oppression speak out to become crimes? When does speaking to genocide become something imprisoned?"

A statement from Tufts University said the school was satisfied with the decision: “We look forward to her returning to campus to restore her PhD.”

Öztürk, who once sat next to Khanbabai, appeared at the hearing through Zoom, the South Louisiana ice processing center. She testified how her time there was living with 23 other women in overcrowded mouse-infected cells, which worsened her chronic asthma problem. At one point during the hearing, she said she was suffering from an asthma attack and temporarily left the room.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security did not directly resolve the judge's order.

"Providing visas for foreign students to live and study in the United States is not a privilege," the statement said. He added that the Trump administration "we will continue to fight for arrests, detentions and dismissals of foreigners who are not entitled to enter this country."

The struggle for Öztürk's detention and release has become one of the highest cases of whether the government can arrest and deport non-citizens who the government believes are threatening the interests of the U.S. foreign policy.

After his arrest, the Trump administration accused Öztürk of engaging in "pro-Hamas activities" and according to Court Documentsthe Department of Homeland Security determined that she was involved in the association, “possibly undermining American foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.”

However, advocates say the goal of Öztürk and others detained by the government is to exercise freedom of speech. Her attorney filed a lawsuit, challenging her activism ungained retaliation for her arrest and detention, saying they were “designated to punish her speech and relax others’ speeches.”

So far, the government has provided no evidence to support its allegations against Öztürk 2024 She co-written for Tufts Campus Newspaper. In it, she criticized school administrators for not doing more to condemn Israel’s war in Gaza, which she called “reasonable genocide.”

On March 25, she was arrested by the Plason Ice Shop and surrounded her when she had dinner with her friends. According to court documents, the State Council quietly canceled her student visa four days ago. Agents quickly drove her from Massachusetts to New Hampshire and Vermont, and then took her to Louisiana the next day.

The judges' meeting scheduled arguments to consider constitutional issues in the case later this month in a courtroom in Burlington, Vermont.