Turkish student who criticised Israel can resume research at Tufts after visa revoked, judge rules

A Federal judge has allowed a Tufts University student from Turkey to resume research and teaching while she deals with the consequences of having her visa revoked by the Trump administration, leading to six weeks of detention.

The arrest of Rümeysa Öztürk, a PhD student studying children’s relationship to social media, was among the first as the Trump administration began targeting foreign-born students and activists involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy. She had co-authored an op-ed criticising her university’s response to Israel and the war in Gaza. Caught on video in March outside her Somerville residence, immigration enforcement officers took her away in an unmarked vehicle.

Ms. Öztürk has been out of a Louisiana immigrant detention centre since May and back on the Tufts campus. But she has been unable to teach or participate in research as part of her studies because of the termination of her record in the government’s database of foreign students studying temporarily in the U.S.

In her ruling on Monday (December 8, 2025), Chief U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper wrote that Ms. Öztürk is likely to succeed on claims that the termination was “arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law and in violation of the First Amendment.” The government’s lawyers unsuccessfully argued that the Boston Federal Court lacked jurisdiction and that Ms. Öztürk’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System record (SEVIS) record was terminated legally after her visa was revoked, making her eligible for removal proceedings.

“There’s no statute or regulation that’s been violated by the termination of the SEVIS record in this case,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter said during a hearing last week. The Associated Press sent an email on Tuesday (December 9, 2025) seeking comment from Sauter on whether the government plans to appeal.

In a statement, Ms. Öztürk, who plans to graduate next year, said while she is grateful for the court’s decision, she feels “a great deal of grief” for the education she has been “arbitrarily denied as a scholar and a woman in my final year of doctoral studies”.

“I hope one day we can create a world where everyone uses education to learn, connect, civically engage and benefit others — rather than criminalise and punish those whose opinions differ from our own,” said Ms. Öztürk, who is still challenging her arrest and detention.

The then-30-year-old was one of four students who wrote the opinion piece in the campus newspaper. It criticised the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”, disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.