Three Massachusetts lawmakers have returned from Louisiana, where they met with a Tufts student being detained by ICE at a detention center, and said they will continue to fight for her release from prison.

The trip, Pressley said during a press conference outside the South Louisiana Correctional Center Tuesday night, was a way to “conduct some real time oversight” of the administration’s immigration practice.

The officials met with Rümeysa Öztürk, who has been collecting the stories of her fellow detainees. The post Mass. lawmakers decry ‘harrowing’ conditions at ICE facility where Tufts student is being held appeared first on Boston.

At a press conference Tuesday, Senator Ed Markey and Representative Ayanna Pressley harshly condemned the treatment of Rümeysa Öztürk, a PhD student at Tufts University, and other detainees.

In a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and ICE acting Director Todd Lyons, the lawmakers demanded answers and raised questions about the fairness of the immigration enforcement system,

The Justice Department filed an appeal of the judge's order on Tuesday and asked U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III to pause Öztürk's transfer while it appeals. Sessions ruled Friday that Öztürk,

We’re in Louisiana to demand answers, shine a light on this damning violation of their constitutional rights, and call for their immediate release."