A federal appeals court heard arguments Tuesday from lawyers representing Mohsen Mahdawi and Rümeysa Öztürk, two students from New England who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this year.
Mahdawi, a lawful permanent resident who was studying at Columbia University, and Öztürk, who had a student visa while working toward a doctoral degree at Tufts, say they were targeted as part of a federal crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses.
District judges granted Mahdawi and Öztürk release on bail while their immigration cases are pending. The federal government appealed, arguing that district courts did not have jurisdiction to weigh in on either student’s detention, and those decisions should have been left to immigration courts. The students’ attorneys are asking the three-judge panel to reject the appeals.
Öztürk was one of several students who cowrote an op-ed in the Tufts’ student newspaper last year, in which they urged school administrators to divest from companies with ties to Israel. The State Department revoked Öztürk’s student visa shortly before arresting the Turkish national outside of her Somerville home.
“Writing is a form of listening. A process of thinking out loud and the foundation upon which so much of our world is built. Writing is the heart of freedom of expression,” Öztürk said to judges on a panel of the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals Tuesday. “Unbelievably, it was my writing — the single opinion piece published in our student newspaper — that led to my arrest and ultimately landed me in a damp and crowded for-profit ICE prison for 45 days this spring. Despite my experience, I remain hopeful that our world can become a gentler and more peaceful place.”
Esha Bhandari, who represents Öztürk, argued that federal law does not allow the indefinite detention of non-citizens before they have a chance to appeal the constitutionality of their detention.
“This is not a permissible use of government authority, and it does not get to use immigration detention authority to try to censor speech,” Bhandari said during a press conference following the hearing.
ACLU attorney Michael Tan, who represents Mahdawi, echoed that sentiment.
“Like Rümeysa’s case, Mohsen Mahdawi’s case is really about two basic questions,” Tan said. “In America in 2025, can the government lock you up for your lawful speech? And if so, can you go to court to hold them accountable?”
Mahdawi told reporters that coming to the U.S. from the Palestinian territories allowed him to pursue an education he had “never dreamed possible.” As an undergraduate student at Columbia University, he participated in pro-Palestinian activism on campus.
The green card holder was detained in April, directly following his naturalization interview.
“I was handcuffed and dragged into the darkness of a prison cell. And why? Not because I committed any crime, but because I dared to exercise what is most sacred in this land, my First Amendment right to speak truth,” Mahdawi said.
The appeals court has expedited the cases. Tan said they so expect a decision “in the near future.”
