Five congressional Democrats on Tuesday traveled to Louisiana, where they met with two graduate students who have been detained by federal immigration officials and have become high-profile examples of the Trump administration’s efforts to suppress pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses.
The lawmakers’ trip was an effort to bring further attention to the cases of Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, and Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University in New York, who were detained under a rarely used legal provision that allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens deemed a threat to American foreign policy. The students’ lawyers have argued that their detentions violate their rights to free speech.
The visit to Louisiana was the latest attempt by Democrats to use the congressional recess to draw attention to what they see as violations of due process during President Trump’s second term. Over the last week, Democrats have made two visits to El Salvador to highlight the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man whom Trump administration officials have admitted to erroneously deporting.
In Louisiana, Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Representatives Jim McGovern and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Troy Carter of Louisiana and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi met with Mr. Khalil and Ms. Ozturk and toured the facilities where they were detained. Both had been transferred hundreds of miles away from their homes and from where they were originally detained.
In a news conference outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Basile, La., where Ms. Ozturk is being held, the lawmakers argued that the government had violated the students’ constitutional rights and that both had been targeted for their political views.
“Neither of them committed any crimes,” Mr. McGovern said. “They’ve been charged with nothing.”
Mr. Markey criticized immigration officials for sending the two students to facilities in Louisiana, arguing the government did so to secure a more favorable hearing for their deportation proceedings. Louisiana has one of the most conservative appeals courts in the United States.
“The very point of what they’re doing is to make these people examples of those who the Trump administration wants to make examples of,” he said.
The lawmakers also said that they wanted to survey conditions inside the facilities. Mr. Markey said he did not believe Mr. Khalil and Ms. Ozturk were receiving proper medical care, adding that Ms. Ozturk had suffered multiple asthma attacks while detained, a claim also made by her lawyers in court documents.
Mr. Khalil, 30, and Ms. Ozturk, 30, are among hundreds of students whom the government is moving to deport after Mr. Trump vowed to fight what he called antisemitism at American universities and punish student protesters.
Ms. Ozturk, a Turkish citizen on a student visa, was detained by federal agents last month in front of her apartment in Somerville, Mass., and then held overnight in Vermont before being sent to Louisiana. Mr. Markey, Ms. Pressley and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter earlier on Tuesday asking Trump administration officials to explain the rationale for moving her there.
Federal officials have accused Ms. Ozturk of engaging in activities in support of Hamas. But the government has not made clear what evidence it has to support its case beyond an opinion essay critical of the war in Gaza that she co-wrote in the student newspaper.
Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to an American citizen, was involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University. He was detained in his apartment building in New York after Secretary of State Marco Rubio initiated deportation proceedings against him.
Mr. Rubio argued in a memo that Mr. Khalil’s presence in the country enabled the spread of antisemitism. After his arrest, the Homeland Security Department accused Mr. Khalil of leading “activities aligned to Hamas.” Mr. Khalil’s lawyers have denied that accusation.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
The post Members of Congress Visit Graduate Students Being Held in Louisiana appeared first on New York Times.
