President Donald Trump has made no secret of his intention to deport non-citizens engaged in illegal activity or those who support or promote terrorist organizations.
Not surprisingly, however, the Trump administration has encountered obstacles erected by federal district court judges who are increasingly asserting a controversial degree of authority over the executive branch, as evidenced by a Friday ruling preventing the deportation of a Tufts University graduate student, as Fox News reports.
At issue late last week was the case of Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, an international student from Turkey living in Somerville, Massachusetts, who was detained by federal authorities near her off-campus apartment.
A representative from the Department of Homeland Security asserted that Ozturk has been “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” and according to Fox News, she co-authored an op-ed piece last year in the Tufts Daily blasting the school's stance on Israel's actions in Gaza.
Ozturk and her co-authors demanded that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and adjust its financial affairs based on other entities' ties to the Jewish state.
After her arrest, Ozturk was taken to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, presumably in preparation for eventual deportation, a move her attorneys said was improper due to her status as a F-1 visa holder with no pending criminal charges.
U.S. District Judge Denise Casper halted any deportation plans, saying, “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,” referencing an updated complaint filed by the student's attorneys to which the government has until Tuesday to file a response.
It was in January that Trump signed an executive order mandating the revocation of student visas for those advocating in support of Hamas.
The order came in response to what the president said was an “unprecedented wave of vile, antisemitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.”
As NBC News reports, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has indicated that several hundred student visas have already been pulled as a result of the executive order.
“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” Rubio said.
Rubio also opined, “We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to be a social activist that comes in and tears up our university campuses. If you invite me into your home because I say, 'Oh, I want to go to your house for dinner,' and I come into your house and I start putting mud on your couch and spray-painting your kitchen, I bet you you're going to kick me out.”
While Ozturk's case continues its journey in the courts, another high-profile matter involving Columbia University protest leader and alleged Hamas supporter Mahmoud Khalil is making headlines after the activist was detained over two weeks ago by ICE agents.
During a hearing on Friday, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled that Khalil will remain in the aforementioned Louisiana ICE facility for the time being amid unsettled jurisdictional arguments, leaving the fate of his and several other similar cases uncertain as complex legal wrangling appears poised to continue.
