Judge blocks deportation of foreign student arrested for Palestinian support

A federal judge on Friday ordered the government not to deport a foreign student from Turkey.

Judge Denise Casper said she wants to determine whether her court has jurisdiction over Rumeysa Ozturk, the graduate student at Tufts University whose arrest on a Massachusetts street this week went viral online.

“To allow the court’s resolution of its jurisdiction to decide the petition, Ozturk shall not be removed from the United States until further order of this court,” the judge said.

Homeland Security records show Ms. Ozturk is being held at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Louisiana.

She was arrested in Massachusetts on Tuesday.

Lawyers quickly filed a challenge to her arrest and Judge Casper had ordered that she be kept in the state but it appears ICE had already removed her, sparking new questions about the judge’s jurisdiction.

During the arrest, undercover officers with civilian clothes and badges around their necks approached Ms. Ozturk on the street, escorted her to an SUV and drove her away.

U.S. officials say she engaged in “support of Hamas” and her student visa has been revoked, making her a deportation target.

But friends told The Associated Press that she wasn’t a major player in pro-Palestinian protests.