Beth Healy

4 weeks ago | vermontpublic.org | Beth Healy |Jesús Marrero Suárez

Updated May 9, 2025 at 7:16 PM EDTTufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk has been released from a Louisiana immigration processing facility, her attorneys say, following a six-week detention and legal fight that has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s targeting of international students. Judge William Sessions ordered her release from the bench on Friday, saying he found serious claims “of both due process and first amendment violations” in her arrest in Somerville in March.

4 weeks ago | vermontpublic.org | Beth Healy |Jesús Marrero Suárez

Updated May 9, 2025 at 3:01 PM EDTA federal judge in Vermont ordered immigration officials Friday to release Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk immediately from a Louisiana detention center where she’s been held for six weeks. He said she’s free to return to her home in Massachusetts. Judge William Sessions made his order from the bench, saying he found serious claims “of both due process and first amendment violations” in her arrest in Somerville in March.

4 weeks ago | wbur.org | Jesús Marrero Suárez |Beth Healy

A federal judge in Vermont ordered immigration officials Friday to release Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk immediately from a Louisiana detention center where she's been held for six weeks. He said she's free to return to her home in Massachusetts. Judge William Sessions made his order from the bench, saying he found serious claims "of both due process and first amendment violations" in her arrest in Somerville in March.

1 month ago | wbur.org | Beth Healy

Trump's antisemitism task force is skipping its planned Boston meetingMembers of the DOJ's task force on antisemitism had planned to meet with the mayor and others Wednesday. But according to city officials, the task force has not followed up or confirmed those plans since a preliminary meeting earlier this month. The city has emailed the DOJ's Civil Rights Division to ask for more specifics on what it's looking to probe in Boston — to no avail, officials said.

Feb 22, 2025 | wbur.org | Beth Healy

President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, issued a threat to Boston's police commissioner Saturday and said he was "bringing hell" to the city for allegedly not cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington D.C., Homan claimed he'd read a story in which Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox "doubled down on not helping the law enforcement office of ICE." Homan then said, "I'm coming to Boston.