US judge halts deportation of Tufts Turkish student accused of anti-Israel activism
Judge gives Trump administration until Tuesday to respond to legal challenges to deport Rumeysa Ozturk, who was taken into custody earlier in week
BOSTON – A US federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday temporarily barred the deportation of a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, who voiced support for Palestinians in Israel’s war in Gaza and was detained by US immigration officials this week.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was taken into custody by US immigration authorities near her Massachusetts home on Tuesday, according to a video showing the arrest by masked federal agents. US officials revoked her visa.
The US Department of Homeland Security has accused Ozturk, without providing evidence, of “engaging in activities in support of Hamas,” a group which the US government categorizes as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
The October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on southern Israel killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw another 251 taken hostage, sparking the war in Gaza.
Her arrest came a year after Ozturk co-authored an opinion piece in Tufts’ student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.”
A lawyer soon after sued to secure her release, and on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union joined her legal defense team, filing a revised lawsuit saying her detention violates her rights to free speech and due process.
Despite a Tuesday night order requiring the PhD student and Fulbright Scholar not to be moved out of Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice, she was now in Louisiana.
In Friday’s order, US District Judge Denise Casper in Boston said that to provide time to resolve whether her court retained jurisdiction over the case, she was barring Ozturk’s deportation temporarily.
She ordered the Trump administration to respond to Ozturk’s complaint by Tuesday.
Mahsa Khanbabai, a lawyer for Ozturk, called the decision “a first step in getting Rumeysa released and back home to Boston so she can continue her studies.”
The DHS had no immediate comment.
US President Donald Trump has pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters and has accused them of supporting Hamas, being antisemitic and posing foreign policy hurdles.
Protesters say the Trump administration conflates their criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza and their advocacy for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas.
Many of the protests have also veered into open antisemitism and have seen Jewish students targeted on campuses. Demonstrations also involved violence and vandalism.
Several students and protesters have had their visas revoked by the Trump administration, which says it may have revoked over 300 visas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was actively working to deport more of them, saying that the US would not provide visas for people who participate in movements involved in “vandalizing universities, harassing students taking over buildings.”
The Times of Israel Community.