US immigration court blocks deportation of Tufts graduate student from Turkey, her attorneys say

An immigration court blocked the deportation of a Turkish Tufts University graduate student who was detained by immigration officials near her Massachusetts home, her attorneys said in court documents filed Monday.

Rümeysa Öztürk’s attorneys said the immigration court found on Jan. 29 that the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t proved that Öztürk should be removed from the U.S.

The immigration court also terminated Öztürk’s removal proceedings, the attorneys said in a letter to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been reviewing her case.

The department has the option to appeal the immigration court’s decision, the notice from her attorneys said.

Öztürk is a PhD student studying children’s relationship to social media. She was arrested last March while walking down a street 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.

Video showed masked agents handcuffing her and putting her into an unmarked vehicle.

A petition to release her was first filed in federal court in Boston and then moved to Burlington, Vermont. Öztürk has been out of a Louisiana immigrant detention center since May and back on the Tufts campus outside Boston.

A federal judge said Öztürk raised serious concerns about her First Amendment and due process rights, as well as her health. The federal government appealed her release to the 2nd Circuit.

Öztürk’s attorneys told the 2nd Circuit that the government may try to detain their client again if it appeals the immigration court’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately return an email message seeking comment.

Öztürk said it was heartening to know that some justice can prevail.

“Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system’s flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the U.S. government,” she said in a statement released by her attorneys.