Appeals court considers whether detained students from Tufts, Columbia should be moved
Source: CBS News
Updated on: May 6, 2025 / 12:11 PM EDT
Washington — A federal appellate panel on Tuesday considered high-profile cases involving two international students who were detained by federal immigration officials and now face removal from the U.S. after they made statements that were critical of Israel.
The panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit heard arguments in emergency appeals from the Trump administration after two federal judges issued separate decisions in favor of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral candidate at Tufts University, and Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University, last month.
Administration officials are asking the 2nd Circuit to pause the lower court orders issued in Ozturk and Mahdawi's cases while their challenges to their respective detentions move forward. In Ozturk's case, U.S. District Judge William Sessions issued an order for Ozturk, who is being detained at a facility in Louisiana, to be transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Vermont and set a bail hearing for her to attend in person on May 9.
U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered Mahdawi's release from immigration custody while the challenge to his detention proceeds. Appeals court Judges Barrington Parker, Susan Carney and Alison Nathan weighed the administration's request for a stay of the two orders, and said following arguments that they will take the matters under advisement.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/court-arguments-detained-students-tufts-columbia-rumesya-ozturk-mohsen-mahdawi/