A Tufts University student from Turkey, Rumeysa Ozturk, returned to Massachusetts on Saturday after spending over six weeks in a U.S. immigration detention center in Louisiana. Her detention came amid the Trump administration’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian student activists.
Ozturk, a 30-year-old PhD student, was arrested on March 25 in Somerville, Massachusetts. Masked plainclothes officers detained her after the U.S. Department of State revoked her student visa. Officials said the revocation was due to an opinion piece she co-authored in the Tufts student newspaper. In that piece, she criticized the university’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza and called for acknowledgment of the "Palestinian genocide."
Judge Orders Immediate Release
On Friday, a judge ordered her immediate release. Ozturk arrived at Boston’s Logan International Airport the next day and spoke at a press conference alongside her lawyers and local congressional leaders.
"This has been a very difficult time for me," Ozturk said. She expressed happiness about reuniting with her academic community and thanked students and professors who had written her letters. She also urged people not to forget the many other women still detained.
"America is the greatest democracy in the world," she said. "I have faith in the American system of justice."
Legal Battle and Alleged Retaliation
Her lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argued that her arrest was illegal and aimed at punishing her for exercising her free speech rights. They claimed the government used the visa revocation as a tool to silence her and discourage similar activism.
Her legal case is now being handled by U.S. District Judge William Sessions in Burlington, Vermont. He granted her bail after determining that she had presented strong arguments that her rights had been violated.
Lawmakers Condemn Her Treatment
U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley, who visited Ozturk while she was detained, described the conditions she faced as “squalid” and said she was denied proper treatment for severe asthma. Pressley called the arrest a "deliberate, coordinated attempt to intimidate" and said it was meant to discourage others from speaking out against injustice.
After her arrest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) briefly held her in Vermont before transferring her to Louisiana. She remained there until her release was ordered.