Fell asleep on the couch last night watching playoff hockey, and after I woke up I didn’t have the energy to blog.
The main thing I wanted to write about yesterday was the situation involving Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old Turkish scholar pursuing her PhD at Tufts University. Ozturk is one of a handful of ICE detainees who have become household names in recent weeks, serving as archetypes of the ways in which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has started behaving more aggressively during the second Trump administration.
In late March, Ozturk was apprehended on the street in Massachusetts by several masked ICE agents. Unbeknownst to her, her student visa had been revoked by order of the Secretary of State, taking advantage of a statutory provision that allows the Secretary of State to bar from entry a person whose presence would have “potential significant adverse foreign policy consequences.” After first transporting her to a facility in Vermont, ICE then moved her swiftly to a facility in Louisiana, which is conveniently located in the 5th Circuit, the part of the country having the most Trump-friendly judiciary.
The only evidence cited by the government to justify her removal is that, a year earlier, she was one of four Tufts graduate students who co-authored an editorial in the student newspaper, criticizing the university administration’s response to resolutions passed by the undergraduate student senate in regards to the Israel-Hamas war. I’ve read the editorial and I am flummoxed at the idea that anybody would read it and think that the authors’ presence in the U.S. would potentially jeopardize our foreign policy objectives. As such, Ozturk’s detention has become a cause celebre among advocates of free speech, as well as a warning sign regarding ICE’s current modus operandi. Yesterday a federal judge ordered her release from detention after more than six weeks, although her deportation proceedings will continue.
In other ICE-related news yesterday, the mayor of Newark was arrested outside of an ICE facility in his city that was in the process of being inspected by three Democratic U.S. House members, and now today there is talk that the Representatives may also be charged. The top federal prosecutor in New Jersey is Alina Habba, who was Trump’s lead attorney in the Carroll I trial in early 2024.
Also of interest yesterday was some personnel changes in the administration. Trump fired the Librarian of Congress, a Black woman named Dr. Carla Hayden, a year before the expiration of her 10-year term; this appears to be yet another manifestation of Trump’s anti-DEI crusade. In addition, the acting Administrator of FEMA was fired the day after he had testified to Congress that he did not believe FEMA should be disbanded, which was contrary to the testimony that his boss, DHS Secretary Noem, had given the previous day.
We also had some political news late last night, with controversial Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene deciding to take a pass on the 2026 Senate race in Georgia. This is probably a net win for the Republicans, since MTG probably would have won the Republican primary and then gotten blown out by Sen. Ossoff in the general. The only declared challenger is much more low profile, Rep. Buddy Carter from southeastern Georgia, who entered the race this week.
In other late Friday news, a federal judge in California issued an order in a case called AFGE v. Trump in which the plaintiffs “contend that the executive branch cannot lawfully implement large-scale reductions in the federal workforce without the participation of Congress.” This is in connection with DOGE activity, as manifested through Executive Order 14210. Judge Susan Illston, a 76-year-old Clinton appointee who has been serving in senior status for over a decade, issued a two-week temporary restraining order, with a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for the day before the TRO is due to expire. Judge Illston’s order ends with “the Court finds that the President likely must request Congressional cooperation to order the changes he seeks, and thus issues a temporary restraining order to pause large-scale reductions in force in the meantime.” More to come, of course.