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A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) status of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University PhD student and pro-Palestinian activist, allowing her to resume on-campus employment. The ruling, issued by Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston, concluded that Ozturk is likely to prove that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unlawfully terminated her SEVIS record on the same day masked, plainclothes agents arrested her in March.
SEVIS, the federal database used to monitor international students, determines whether foreign students can study and work in the United States. Ending a student's record effectively bars them from employment. Ozturk said she was grateful for the decision and hopes others will not endure similar “injustices.”
Her arrest in Somerville, Massachusetts, gained national attention after viral video footage showed ICE agents detaining her shortly after the U.S. Department of State revoked her visa. The revocation came amid a broader crackdown on non-citizens participating in pro-Palestinian campus activism. The only reason cited for the visa cancellation was an editorial she co-authored criticizing Tufts University’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Ozturk, a former Fulbright scholar and child development researcher, was held for 45 days in a Louisiana detention facility before a federal judge in Vermont ordered her release, citing strong evidence that the government’s actions may have been unlawful retaliation violating her First Amendment rights.
Although Ozturk returned to her studies at Tufts, the refusal to reinstate her SEVIS status prevented her from teaching and working as a research assistant, jeopardizing her academic progress ahead of graduation. Judge Casper criticized the government for offering “shifting justifications” for ending her status, noting that even ICE now appears to acknowledge she complied with all student visa requirements.
The Department of Homeland Security has not yet commented on the ruling.
