Alyssa Lukpat, Vera Bergengruen and Gretchen Tarrant Gulla:
Federal agents moved a Turkish student arrested in Massachusetts to Louisiana despite a judge’s order barring her transfer without notice.
Rumeysa Ozturk is being held at an immigration center in Louisiana, attorneys for the administration said Thursday. Judge Indira Talwani’s order that a 48-hour notice must be given before her transfer came too late, the attorneys said.
Ozturk, a Ph.D. student on a student visa, was taken into custody Tuesday outside her off-campus apartment building in Somerville, Mass., according to Tufts University and court records. She was on her way to meet friends and break her fast for Ramadan when she was detained, her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai, said.
Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar, wasn’t charged with any crime and wasn’t allowed to speak to her attorney until she was already in Louisiana, according to her legal team.
Agents in masks and street clothes approached Ozturk on the street and led her away in handcuffs as she screamed, according to video of the detention.
