Appeals Court Orders Transfer of Turkish Student

(MENAFN) A federal appeals tribunal ruled on Wednesday that Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish PhD candidate currently in detention, must be moved to a court in Vermont.

This decision represents a setback for the Trump administration, which has been working to deport Ozturk over her pro-Palestinian remarks.

Lawyers from the Justice Department had attempted to block her relocation from an immigration detention center in Louisiana—a southern U.S. state—to a federal court in the northeastern state of Vermont.

There, a judge has scheduled a hearing regarding her release on bail for May 9.

This legal session is expected to examine her ongoing confinement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following her arrest in March.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals listened to oral arguments presented by government attorneys and Ozturk's legal representative before issuing its decision.

The judges denied the Trump administration’s request to reverse a lower court’s directive that mandated her return to Vermont.

The panel gave federal officials a one-week deadline to transport her to the state so she can attend the court sessions set by District Judge William Sessions.

Whether the Trump administration plans to challenge the decision at the U.S. Supreme Court remains uncertain.

However, earlier on Wednesday, Leader Donald Trump publicly criticized the U.S. judiciary in a post on social media, asserting that the court system "is not letting me do the job I was Elected to do."

"Activist judges must let the Trump Administration deport murderers, and other criminals who have come into our Country illegally, WITHOUT DELAY!!!" he declared.

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