“I am choosing to return home as planned to continue my career as a woman scholar without losing more time to the state-imposed violence and hostility I have experienced in the United States — all for nothing more than co-signing an op-ed advocating for Palestinian rights,“ Öztürk said in a statement released Friday. “I invite everyone to recognize the privilege it is for any country to host international scholars, and the hole that is left in our society when that privilege is lost.”
Earlier this year, Öztürk earned her PhD from the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts, after working on her thesis from inside a detention center more than 1,000 miles away from her campus. Öztürk, a children’s media scholar, previously earned her master’s degree at Teachers College, Columbia University.
“As I start the next chapter of my life, I stand firmly in solidarity with academic communities in the U.S. and elsewhere who live in fear for nothing more than their scholarship,” Öztürk said in her statement. “I invite all universities to do better about listening and valuing all of their students as equal community members.”
Graduation photo of Tufts University PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk.Libby O’Neill/ACLU
In a statement to the Globe on Friday, a Department of Justice official said that “attending elite colleges and universities in the United States is a privilege afforded to foreign students who respect our values and follow our laws.”
“Rümeysa Öztürk chose not to abide by those simple conditions, and as a result left the United States — something the Administration sought to accomplish from the beginning,” the official said. “We will continue to seek the deportation of any foreign student who abuses their opportunity to study in America by engaging in vile antisemitism, harassment, or other illegal behavior.”
If Öztürk wanted to return to the United States, she would have to apply for a visa, which the Trump administration would deny, a DOJ official told the Globe. But under the terms of the agreement, a different administration could allow her entry to the country, according to the official.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to the Globe that “DHS is glad to see Ozturk self-deported from the U.S.”
“Visas provided to foreign students to live, study, and work in the United States are a privilege, not a right,” DHS said.
A spokesperson for the State Department, the agency that revoked Öztürk‘s visa, said much the same, adding that the administration “will continue to abide by all laws, regulations, and court orders.”
On March 25, 2025, ICE agents staked out Öztürk’s apartment and detained her as she was headed to a community Iftar to break her Ramadan fast. As she screamed, they handcuffed her, led her to an unmarked vehicle, and drove her across multiple states and hundreds of miles. She later said in court declarations that she had no idea who the officials were or why they were arresting her, and that she feared for her life.
The video of her arrest, obtained from a surveillance camera on the block, sent shockwaves through the nation. For nearly 24 hours, Öztürk’s friends, loved ones, and lawyers had no idea where she was. Inside the detention facility, her asthma worsened amid the conditions at the far-flung Louisiana lockup. Öztürk was released from detention on May 9, after a federal judge in Vermont granted her bond.
She came to the attention of federal authorities after a shadowy website called Canary Mission, which activists say has led to harassment and doxxing, publicly accused her of engaging in anti-Israel activism. The website included a link to her op-ed.
Some legal experts said the lasting consequences of the Trump administration’s actions in arresting Öztürk, and others like Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, are already evident.
“That Rümeysa felt she had to return to Turkey to escape the shadow of state violence says everything you need to know about the state of free speech and academic freedom in this country,” said Ramya Krishnan, a senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute.
Krishnan was the lead attorney in a case that played out last year before a federal judge in Massachusetts over whether the Trump administration had engaged in what the plaintiffs called an “ideological deportation” policy targeting foreign scholars.
Though Öztürk was not a plaintiff, her detainment and that of several other students were a central focus of the trial, in which officials testified as to how and why they had identified her for arrest.
Senior District Judge William G. Young ruled in September that federal government violated the free speech rights of international students who were singled out for deportation after they had participated in pro-Palestinian advocacy.
Many foreign scholars and students remain fearful that speaking out on issues they care about could lead to their arrest and deportation, Krishnan said.
“The result has been a pervasive atmosphere of self-censorship,” Krishnan said. “One that has been corrosive not only to our college campuses, but to our democracy.”
This chilling effect, Krishnan added, “harms all of us.”
The Trump administration has alleged that Öztürk was associated with activist groups at Tufts that protested the university’s relationship with Israel. DHS has gone so far as to say, without evidence, that “DHS and ICE investigations found Öztürk engaged in activities in support of Hamas.”
But the Globe’s reporting revealed that the government‘s own investigation found no evidence that she engaged in antisemitic activity or made any statements in support of a terrorist group.
Still, the Trump administration has doubled down on its efforts to fight Öztürk’s cases in the courts — appealing the decisions of various judges.
Earlier this year, immigration Judge Roopal Patel terminated the government’s deportation efforts against Öztürk. DHS had appealed that decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals before her proceedings were jointly dismissed. In federal courts, the government was still battling Öztürk’s claims that her arrest was illegal when Öztürk left for Turkey.
The government recently fired Patel, the judge overseeing Öztürk’s immigration case.
“The government’s arrest and detention of Rümeysa was unlawful and harmful, as numerous federal court decisions have confirmed that the government had no basis for its actions aside from her constitutionally protected speech,” Jessie Rossman, the legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement Friday. “Yet even as the government continued a relentless campaign against Rümeysa for nothing more than co-authoring an op-ed, she continued to navigate her studies and her advocacy with strength and grace.”
In Massachusetts, Reyyan Bilge, a close friend of Öztürk’s who also taught her during her undergraduate years in Turkey, was relieved Öztürk was home with her family.
“The last year has been a nightmare for her,” Bilge said. “We never could shake fully the possibility that she could have been detained again.”
Bilge, now a psychology professor at Northeastern University, said she has seen many international students decide to leave the US out of fear of being targeted.
Bilge said she didn’t expect Öztürk would return to the US. “I wouldn’t advise her to either, at this point,” she said. “I’m really bitter and angry and sad for the future of the United States.”
Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @giuliamcdnr.
