NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University doctoral student in Turkey whose charges were dropped after DHS detained her on suspicion of “[engaging] in support of Hamas,” he moved to Turkey, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Ozturk deported himself from the US on Thursday night on a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Ozturk was arrested by ICE in Somerville, Massachusetts, in March 2025, sparking a battle between the Trump administration and a federal judge over his arrest.
The Tufts graduate student was living in the US under an F-1 student visa, which the Trump administration revoked around March 21, 2025. At the time his visa was revoked, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration were cracking down on visas for students involved in protests and demonstrations regarding Israel and Palestine.
JUDGE SLAMS TRUMP AS ‘AUTHORIST’ BLOCKS US FROM FIRING PRO-PALESTINIAN CAMPUS ACTIVISTS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at the Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay in Cernay-la-Ville, France, on March 27, 2026. (Thomas Trutschel/Photothek)
“After 13 years of dedicated study, I am very proud to have completed my Ph.D. and returned home on my own timeline,” Ozturk said in a statement. “The time stolen from me by the US government is not only mine, but that of the children and young people I have dedicated my life to speaking for. With them, I choose to return home as planned to continue my work as a female academic without losing much time due to the violence and hostility imposed by the regime that I have experienced in the United States – all this without co-signing an op-ed ap-ed for Palestinian.”
Ozturk co-authored an opinion piece on March 26, 2024 that was published in the Tufts Daily, the campus’ student newspaper.
“Believable allegations against Israel include the deliberate starvation and indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians and the apparent genocide,” the op-ed reads.
The authors, including Ozturk, criticized the university’s response to the anti-Israel protests, saying the university should publicly acknowledge that the Palestinian people are suffering.
Rubio specifically addressed parts of the opinion in a statement about student visa revocations, especially after Ozturk’s arrest on March 25, 2025.
DHS SAYS ARRESTED COLUMBIA STUDENT WILL ARRIVAL LEGALLY HIS VISA WAS CANCELED UNDER OBAMA ADMIN.
“If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and become a student, and you tell us that the reason you are coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in campaigns that are involved in doing things like destroying universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a visa – we will not give you a visa,” Rubio said.
Trump’s Justice Department also faced Ozturk’s firing.
“Attending elite colleges and universities in the United States is a privilege given to foreign students who respect our values and follow our laws,” a DOJ official told Fox News. “Rümeysa Öztürk chose not to follow those simple conditions, and therefore left the United States – something the Government wanted to accomplish from the beginning. We will continue to seek the deportation of any foreign student who abuses his opportunity to study in America by engaging in violent acts of dissent, harassment, or other illegal behavior.”
After Ozturk’s arrest, he was transferred to Methuen, Mass., then Lebanon, New Hampshire, and Vermont before being sent to the South Louisiana ICE processing center, according to reports.
Protests broke out at Tufts and around the country over his arrest, and two months later he was released on bail.
ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATOR MAHMOUD KHALIL IS ONE STEP CLOSER TO RELAXING BOARD RULE
Rumeysa Ozturk on an apple picking trip in 2021. (AP Photo) (AP)
The legal dispute continued between the Trump administration and Ozturk, who was legally represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), until Feb. 9 when Biden nominated Boston immigration judge Roopal Patel to end deportation proceedings.
Patel ruled that the Department of Homeland Security had no legal grounds to fire him.
“I am saddened by the many people who do not see the mistreatment they have faced exposed,” said Ozturk in a statement released by his lawyers after the verdict. “When we speak openly about the many injustices that surround us, including the treatment of immigrants and others who have been targeted and thrown into for-profit ICE prisons, and what is happening in Gaza, true justice will prevail.”
THE US GOVERNMENT TARGETED ME FOR MY POLITICAL SPEECH. IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU TOO
Trump’s Justice Department fired Patel, among other immigration judges, last week.
President Donald Trump spoke to reporters outside the Oval Office at the White House on April 13, in Washington, DC, after refusing to apologize for comments criticizing Pope Leo XIV. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Since Patel rules as an immigration judge and not a federal Article III judge, the Trump administration and the executive branch have control over his tenure.
The White House issued a press release on April 9, titled: “The Time for Amnesty Is Over: President Trump Restores Rule of Law to Immigration Courts,” in which the administration called it “the most powerful and successful overhaul of immigration laws in modern history.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
“President Trump promised to end the nightmare of open borders — and he’s delivering on that promise with unrelenting vigor. The era of catch-and-release, mass deportations, and amnesty for activist judges is over,” the White House statement read.
