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A federal judge had ordered the government to immediately release Rumeysa Ozturk, who was being held in a federal facility in Louisiana.
May 10, 2025, 7:47 p.m. ET
Rumeysa Ozturk’s plane touched down in Boston on Saturday evening, ending a six-week odyssey for the student in federal custody that stirred outrage over President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Her return to Massachusetts, where she was arrested in March, came one day after a federal judge in Vermont ordered that she be immediately released from a detention facility in Louisiana.
Ms. Ozturk, a Turkish citizen studying at Tufts University on a student visa, was among more than a thousand international students whose visas were canceled by the federal government and who have faced deportation. The moves came as the Trump administration escalated its attack on higher education, saying its goal was to root out antisemitism.
Ms. Ozturk had written an opinion piece in the student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to pro-Palestinian demands. Her supporters denied that she was antisemitic, and said that she was detained in retaliation for her speech in violation of the First Amendment.
On Saturday, her friends and former professors bounced between joy at her release and hurt that Ms. Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar who specializes in children’s media and who is known as a studious rule follower, would have ever been detained.
“She is one of the most humanistic, compassionate, and kindhearted people I have ever known,” Mehmet Fatih Uslu, one of her former professors, said in an email. Her undergraduate thesis, which focused on death in children’s literature, reflected her sensitive nature, he said.
On Friday, Judge William K. Sessions III of the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont said her detention would potentially chill “the speech of the millions and millions of individuals in this country who are not citizens.” He also said the government, which has accused Ms. Ozturk of engaging “in activities in support of Hamas,” had not introduced any evidence other than the pro-Palestinian opinion essay that Ms. Ozturk co-authored.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Vimal Patel writes about higher education with a focus on speech and campus culture.
Anemona Hartocollis is a national reporter for The Times, covering higher education.
English (US)