Turkish grad student who co-authored anti-Israel op-ed at Tufts self-deports after legal battle with DHS
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University medical graduate student from Turkey whose charges were dropped after DHS detained her for allegedly "[engaging] in activities in support of Hamas," has self-deported to...
By Fox News · Fox News
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University medical graduate student from Turkey whose charges were dropped after DHS detained her for allegedly "[engaging] in activities in support of Hamas," has self-deported to Turkey , according to sources familiar with the matter. Ozturk self-deported from the U.S. late Thursday night on a flight to Istanbul, Turkey , according to sources familiar. Ozturk was detained by ICE in Somerville, Massachusetts, in March 2025, sparking a battle between the Trump administration and a federal judge over her detainment. The Tufts graduate student was living in the U.S. under an F-1 student visa, which the Trump administration revoked around March 21, 2025. At the time her visa was revoked, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration were cracking down on student visas for students who were involved in protests and demonstrations regarding Israel and Palestine. JUDGE WHO BLASTED TRUMP AS 'AUTHORITARIAN' BLOCKS US FROM DEPORTING PRO-PALESTINIAN CAMPUS ACTIVISTS "After 13 years of dedicated study, I am very proud to have completed my Ph.D. and to return home on my own timeline," Ozturk said in a statement. "The time stolen from me by the U.S. government belongs not just to me, but to the children and youth I have dedicated my life to advocating for. With them in mind, 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." Ozturk co-authored an opinion piece on March 26, 2024 that was published in Tufts Daily, a student newspaper on campus. "Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide," the op-ed read. The authors, including Ozturk, were critical of the university’s response to anti-Israel protests, saying that…