Detained Tufts student seeking transfer says asthma attacks worsened in custody
Detained Tufts student seeking transfer says asthma attacks worsened in custody
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
A Turkish Tufts University student says her asthma attacks continue to worsen since she was taken into custody, arguing ahead of her latest court hearing that her health has suffered while being held in crowded conditions.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was detained by immigration officials as she walked along a street in the Boston suburb of Somerville on March 25. She is currently being held in a detention center in Basile, Louisiana. A federal three-judge panel will hear arguments Tuesday over whether to grant a federal judge’s order to transfer Ozturk to Vermont.
“Since my arrest, in the span of five weeks, I have had at least eight asthma attacks where I have felt unable to control my coughing,” Ozturk wrote in court documents released Monday. “Prior to my arrest, in the span of 2-3 years, I had approximately 9 such asthma attacks in which I felt unable to control my coughing.”
A district court judge in Vermont had earlier ordered that the 30-year-old doctoral student be brought to the state for hearings to determine whether she was illegally detained. Ozturk’s lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.
The U.S. Justice Department, which is appealing that ruling, said that an immigration court in Louisiana has jurisdiction over her case.
In court filings, Ozturk says she’s had trouble receiving proper medical care while at the Louisiana detention center, noting that her asthma attacks can last up to 45 minutes and that she’s rarely given opportunities for fresh air.
“I do not have control over the exposure to potential triggers,” Ozturk added. “The dorm rooms in detention are very crowded, and the other women have reported seeing mice in the dorm rooms. Additionally, the air conditioning is running most of the day, and I do not have immediate access to fresh air.”
Immigration officials surrounded Ozturk as she walked along a street in a Boston suburb on March 25 and drove her to New Hampshire and Vermont before putting her on a plane to a detention center in Louisiana.
Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in March, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
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