Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi ordered released after ICE kidnapping - 5/15/2025

Rümeysa addresses reporters at a press conference with Rep Ayanna Pressley to her left; Office of Representative Ayanna Pressley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.

This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
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Öztürk arrives at Logan Airport after 6 weeks in ICE detention; Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi can remain free from custody while suing over detention, appeals court says

The cases of Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi represent two ongoing blows to the current administration’s ongoing attempt to turn the US into a police state. Both activists were kidnapped by ICE and shipped far from their homes without due process. Both Öztürk and Mahdawi have been ordered released and returned to their homes by federal judges.

Öztürk and Mahdawi are still being pursued for deportation by ICE, but in the meantime they are both suing the government for wrongful arrest.

Mahdawi said he is not afraid of the government, that he plans to continue protesting, and that his school, Columbia University, is a puppet of the Trump administration: "Columbia University is participating in the destruction of the democratic system… They are supporting the initiatives and the agenda of the Trump administration, and they are punishing and torturing their students.”

Öztürk spoke to the press upon her return to Boston after six weeks in horrible conditions at a Louisiana detention center. She ended her remarks with a plea on behalf of her fellow detainees: “Please don’t forget about all these wonderful women in the immigration detention system," she said. "I was so tired of witnessing cries and pain that can be all preventable."
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Newark Mayor Ras Baraka arrested at ICE detention center

Newark, NJ Mayor Ras Baraka, son of poet and activist Amiri Baraka, was arrested last week outside of Delaney Hall, an ICE prison operated by GEO Group under a 15-year, $1 billion dollar contract which recently reopened without permission from the city and in violation of local ordinances. (GEO Group is the same company that runs Texas’s Broward Transitional Facility, where Marie Ange Blaise was pronounced dead after allegedly being denied adequate medical care.)

Mayor Baraka had attempted to join a scheduled congressional oversight visit with NJ Reps Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman. Federal officials blocked their entry and physically confronted both Mayor Baraka and the congresswomen, arresting Baraka after he had left the premises and returned to the public side of the gate.

A DHS statement inaccurately characterized the visitors as protestors who “stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.” Mayor Baraka sued GEO Group as soon as plans to open Delaney Hall were announced and has been vocal in his opposition to the administration’s targeting of immigrant communities. Call your mayor and ask them to be more like Mayor Baraka.
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Local groups report major spike in ICE detentions around Massachusetts

[Content warning: the linked article contains embedded video showing the violence of recent ICE arrests in Worcester. Viewer discretion advised.]

Trump promised increased ICE activity, and it certainly appears this is a wretched promise this administration plans to keep.

The Boston area has seen nearly 400 detentions in six days, while the total for the entire previous year, across all of New England, was 900 arrests. One community defense group has seen a 100% increase in calls to their tipline. Particularly disturbing video of arrests in Worcester has spread widely on the internet.

No one is sitting on the sidelines waiting things out while ICE kidnaps people, violates due process, and generally acts like a terrorist secret police force.

Community members are taking stock of ICE’s tactics, and doing everything they can to protect their neighbors and family members. Groups like LUCE: the Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts are helping to monitor and verify ICE activities, report on abuse, and provide community defense.
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'This is about our families': What Framingham residents said at protest of ICE arrests

Elected officials, clergy, and concerned citizens were among scores of people who turned out to protest the arrest and detention of Daniel Orellana in Framingham, Massachusetts last week. Although they were looking for someone else, ICE detained Orellana after arresting him at a local gas station. His family did not know where he was until late that night.

While the suburban town has not been a hotbed of protest since the Revolutionary War era, the event, organized by the group 50501 Massachusetts, drew residents concerned about the impact of ICE raids on their community. Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and congresswoman Katherine Clark, whose district includes Framingham, also sent supportive messages.

Local pastor Debbie Edwards commented: “We are here to say yes of the vision, the vision of our values that says we are stronger and better when we honor the gifts of people from many diverse communities.”

Who in your community will show up to defend against ICE raids?
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Anonymous Retaliates Against ICE Air Flights to El Salvador

Anonymous, a “hacktivist” group who have orchestrated cyber attacks on a broad range of organizations, from the Church of Scientology to the Minneapolis police department in the wake of the George Floyd murder, has claimed responsibility for breaching the website of an airline carrying out deportation flights of immigrants under the Trump administration.

Hackers released flight data and internal documents as well as breaching the website of Global Crossing Airlines, a US based charter airline responsible for several chartered flights to Venezuela that are now being challenged in court by a class action lawsuit. This is a developing story from Migrant Insider and 404 Media.
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7 actions you can take right now:

  1. Jeanette Vizguerra, community leader and mother, was arrested by ICE in Colorado. Jeanette has been fighting her deportation case since 2009 and is a pillar to her community and family. She has organized and supported immigrant and human rights for years, she needs our support now.

  1. College Students/Faculty/Staff: Sign the ICE Noncompliance Pledge. When Trump abuses “Jewish safety” to justify deportations, we must spread the word to not comply.

  2. Respond to reports of suspected raids in your area in real time by reading and sharing the information in this 1-page guide. For those of us who are allies especially, learn how to watch for ICE and protect your neighbors.

  3. Updated for 2025: Never Again Action is equipping members to organize themselves into neighborhood groups (or “pods”) to be trained and respond to deportation threats on a hyperlocal level. Learn more and build or join a pod: bit.ly/BuildAPod2025

  4. Support Never Again Action’s organizing by making a donation today. You can make a tax deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor at this link, or you can donate directly to our 501(c)(4) organization at this link.

  5. New: Sign up for Inside the Deportation Dystopia: First hand Reports from ICE Detention Centers, webinar by Amnesty International Wednesday, May 21 8pm-9:30pm EST.

  6. New: Sign up for Siembra NC’s Avelo “Abduction Airlines” Mass Call to learn about the airline enabling ICE abductions and what you can do to stop its kidnapping flights. Online event, Thursday May 22 at 8pm EST.

Never Again Action