A U.S. immigration judge has shut down the Trump administration’s attempt to deport Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University doctoral student whose student visa was pulled after she co-wrote a campus editorial critical of the university’s response to the war in Gaza.
According to court filings, the judge found that the Department of Homeland Security failed to prove Ozturk was legally removable and formally terminated the case. The ruling brings a pause—at least for now—to a saga that began with her arrest last spring and quickly became a flashpoint in the national debate over campus speech and immigration enforcement.
Ozturk, a Turkish national and child development researcher, was detained in March after federal authorities revoked her student visa. The government cited a single reason for that decision: an opinion piece she helped write for Tufts’ student newspaper the previous year. No criminal charges were filed.
The judge’s decision, issued in late January, is not publicly available, and the administration retains the option to appeal within the immigration system. A spokesperson for Homeland Security criticized the outcome, characterizing it as an overreach by the judiciary and reiterating the department’s stance that visa holders cannot claim constitutional protections to justify what it describes as support for violence or extremism.
Ozturk’s arrest, captured on video on a Somerville street and widely shared online, propelled her case into the national spotlight. She spent 45 days in an immigration detention center in Louisiana before a federal judge ordered her release, citing serious concerns that her detention amounted to retaliation for protected speech.
In a statement following the immigration ruling, Ozturk said the decision brought relief and expressed hope that her case might encourage others who believe they were unfairly targeted. “Despite the justice system’s flaws,” she said, “this outcome may give hope to those who have also been wronged.”
The legal battle has unfolded alongside broader court challenges. A federal judge in Boston recently concluded that the administration had pursued an unlawful policy that chilled free expression among non-citizen scholars at U.S. universities. The Justice Department has since moved to appeal that ruling.
For Ozturk, the immediate threat of deportation has been lifted. Whether the fight is truly over will depend on what comes next in the appeals process—and on how courts ultimately draw the line between immigration enforcement and free speech on campus.
