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In a preliminary injunction, a federal judge agreed that the termination of Rümeysa Öztürk’s SEVIS record was likely unlawful and ordered its restoration.
Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk celebrated a win after a federal judge ordered the restoration her federal student immigration record, allowing her to work and research as part of her studies.
“Here in the US, it is truly sad how much valuable knowledge is currently being lost due to the widespread fear of punishment within the academic community,” Öztürk said in a statement shared by the ACLU, which is representing her. “I hope one day we can create a world where everyone uses education to learn, connect, civically engage and benefit others — rather than criminalize and punish those whose opinions differ from our own.”
Öztürk was detained in March on the streets of Somerville and was rapidly transferred out of Massachusetts to Louisiana. She was held in detention for 45 days before she was released on bail, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
Öztürk’s record in SEVIS, or the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, which tracks international students, was terminated after the State Department revoked her F-1 visa. Öztürk apparently drew the focus of federal immigration officials by criticizing how university officials responded to pro-Palestinian resolutions passed by the Tufts Community Union Senate in a Tufts Daily op-ed.
Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper agreed with the ACLU that the termination of Öztürk’s SEVIS record was likely unlawful. In a preliminary injunction, she ordered the government to reinstate the record, retroactive to the March date of termination “such that there are no periods in the record reflecting a ‘terminated’ status.”
The Department of Homeland Security is also ordered to provide a one-week notice to her counsel if the record is terminated in the future “as well as providing Öztürk an opportunity to be heard prior to any such termination,” Casper wrote.
With the restored record, Öztürk will now be able “to participate in employment and research experiences that are integral to her graduate studies,” the ACLU said.
“While I am grateful for the court’s decision, I still feel a great deal of grief for all the educational rights I have been arbitrarily denied as a scholar and a woman in my final year of doctoral studies,” Öztürk said in the statement.
In a response to Öztürk’s request to reinstate her SEVIS record, the federal government argued that they lawfully terminated the record when her visa was revoked.
“ICE had a rational basis for termination of Petitioner’s SEVIS record because her F-1 student visa had been revoked by the Department of State and she was subject to removal proceedings,” the federal government argued in court.
Currently, Öztürk’s case challenging her arrest and detention is pending in federal court in Vermont, the ACLU said, while the federal government appeals the transfer of that case to Massachusetts.
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