Turkish student who criticized Israel can resume research at Tufts after visa revoked, judge rules
Source: Associated Press
Turkish student who criticized Israel can resume research at Tufts after visa revoked, judge rules
By LEAH WILLINGHAM and KATHY McCORMACK
Updated 4:03 PM EST, December 9, 2025
BOSTON (AP) — 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 criticizing 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.
Öztürk has been out of a Louisiana immigrant detention center since May and back on the Tufts campus. But she’s 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 Monday, Chief U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper wrote that Öztürk is likely to succeed on claims that the termination was “arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law and in violation of the First Amendment.”
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/gaza-trump-ozturk-immigration-tufts-89ad059e7c2eec05adf90b8517118b89