Congressional delegation visits grad student, PhD student held in ICE detention

A Congressional delegation traveled to Louisiana on Tuesday to demand the release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a PhD student at Tufts University, and Mahmoud Khalil, a 2024 Columbia University graduate, and to examine conditions at their separate detention facilities.

It’s the first time a delegation has visited with either detainee. The visit was first reported by CNN.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) shared on X that he was heading to Louisiana to demand the release of Ozturk, one of his constituents.

Markey was joined by fellow Democrats, Reps. Troy Carter (La.), Bennie Thompson (Miss.), Ayanna Pressley and Jim McGovern (Mass.).

Ozturk’s arrest and detention sparked widespread concern after immigration officers in plain clothes detained her on March 25 and placed her in an unmarked van. She was sent from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, then Vermont and finally to Louisiana.

Her student visa was terminated, and attorneys argue that her due process rights are being violated. Just days ago, a federal judge ordered Ozturk to be transferred back to a detention facility in Vermont.

Markey shared that the delegation met with Khalil, a new father who missed his child’s birth after immigration officials denied him access, and said his story “reminds us that this betrayal and injustice should have never happened.”

Khalil, a green card holder, has been in detention for more than a month. He was targeted because he led Columbia University’s pro-Palestine encampments and protests last year.

“We have a moral obligation to stand with and unequivocally call out the injustices Mahmoud Khalil and too many others are suffering from at the hand of this administration,” Markey said online.

Pressley said in a statement to CNN that neither Khalil nor Ozturk committed a crime, and President Trump is punishing them.

“Both are being unlawfully detained in ICE facilities thousands of miles away from home, and denied the dignity, medical care, and due process they deserve,” Pressley said. “We’re in Louisiana to demand answers, shine a light on the damning violation of their constitutional rights, and call for their immediate release.”

Pressley said the lawmakers were in Louisiana to get answers from the Trump administration about the two detentions. She noted that conditions at detention facilities have notoriously been poor, so she wanted to check on that.

"We can't stand by while the Trump Administration violates free speech and unlawfully detains people with no due process," she said.

McGovern also shared that he was there to fight for the two detainees who were expressing their First Amendment rights.

"Make no mistake: they are political prisoners, detained not for what they’ve done, but for what they dared to say. We went to Louisiana to hear their stories & demand their release," McGovern said.

The Democrats' visit to Louisiana comes on the heels of another group's visit to El Salvador. Several House Democrats went to El Salvador earlier this week to demand the release of Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) kickstarted the movement, pushing back on the Trump administration’s deportations, when he first met with Abrego Garcia and Salvadoran officials.