A US immigration court has terminated the deportation case of Turkish citizen Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University doctoral student, citing insufficient legal evidence. The judge ruled that the Department of Homeland Security failed to prove Öztürk was deportable, formally ending the case.
Öztürk’s F-1 student visa had been revoked after she wrote an article in Tufts’ student newspaper criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza and the university’s response, a move a federal judge later said violated her freedom of speech. Öztürk said the decision offers hope to others “wronged by the US government,” while her lawyer criticized the immigration system for targeting advocates of Palestinian rights. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had confirmed the visa revocation, arguing it was used beyond educational purposes.