US judge halts deportation of Turkish student at Tufts

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A federal judge in Massachusetts has temporarily barred the deportation of a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, who voiced support for Palestinians amid Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and was detained by immigration officials in the United States this week.

Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was taken into custody by US immigration authorities near her Massachusetts home on Tuesday, according to a video showing the arrest by masked federal agents. US officials revoked her visa and the Department of Homeland Security accused Ozturk, without providing evidence, of “engaging in activities in support of Hamas”.

In Friday’s order, US District Judge Denise Casper in Boston said that to provide time to resolve whether her court retained jurisdiction over the case, she was barring Ozturk’s deportation temporarily.

Ozturk’s arrest came a year after she co-authored an opinion piece in Tufts’ student newspaper criticising the university’s response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”.

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