Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral candidate at Tufts University, returned to Massachusetts’s Boston on Saturday evening after a federal judge ordered her release from a Louisiana detention facility where she had been held for six weeks. Her arrest, stemming from an op-ed she co-authored, sparked national criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and raised alarm over free speech rights.Ozturk, 30, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in plainclothes on March 25 while walking to an iftar dinner in Somerville, Massachusetts. She was surrounded by armed officers who confiscated her phone and transported her across multiple states before jailing her in Basile, Louisiana. A neighbour recorded the scene, with one bystander heard asking, “Is this a kidnapping?”According to The New York Times, Ozturk’s detention followed the revocation of her student visa, which the state department claimed had been pulled due to her co-authorship of an op-ed that allegedly created a “hostile environment for Jewish students” and expressed support for a group later temporarily banned from campus. The department of homeland security also accused her of supporting Hamas, but provided no evidence beyond the editorial, according to US district judge William Sessions.“There is no evidence here as to the motivation, absent the consideration of the op-ed,” said Sessions during Friday’s bail hearing, as quoted by CBS News. He warned that her case could chill speech among millions of non-citizens and affirmed that Ozturk was not a flight risk or a threat to public safety.In her first public appearance after release at Boston Logan International Airport, Ozturk expressed relief and gratitude. “America is the greatest democracy in the world,” she said. “I have faith in the American system of justice.” She also thanked her supporters for their letters, books read over the phone, and efforts to keep her academic work alive. “So much love,” she added, according to The New York Times.Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and doctoral student focusing on children’s media, said she had suffered 12 asthma attacks during her confinement, with worsening symptoms due to overcrowding and lack of proper care, reported CBS News. Her detention conditions sparked outrage from immigration advocates, lawmakers, and university leaders.Senator Ed Markey and Representative Ayanna Pressley welcomed her back at the airport. “It’s a victory for justice,” said Markey. Pressley, visibly emotional, added, “We never forgot about you… We will not rest until you are fully exonerated.”Tufts University also expressed support. A university spokesperson was quoted by CBS News as saying that they hoped Ozturk would rejoin her academic community soon, and President Sunil Kumar has been vocal in advocating for her release.Though freed, Ozturk still faces deportation proceedings, which the court confirmed will continue separately in Louisiana. She is scheduled to appear in a Vermont court on May 22, where judge sessions will examine if her First Amendment and due process rights were violated. Her legal team argues that her arrest sets a dangerous precedent, that someone could be jailed “for writing a single news article,” as stated by her attorney during the hearing.Ozturk, despite the ordeal, remains optimistic. “I still believe in the values we share,” she said, vowing to continue her fight through the courts while resuming her doctoral studies.
