Öztürk's attorneys ask for immigration record to be restored so she can work

Attorneys for Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk asked a federal judge in Boston on Thursday to restore a key immigration record that they say will allow the Turkish national to resume working as part of her doctoral studies.

Öztürk’s visa was revoked, and she was arrested in March by masked federal immigration agents, who took her on a harrowing trip and detained her in multiple states, prompting outrage and fear among immigrant communities in Massachusetts.

She was held for six weeks in a Louisiana immigration facility. After being released in May, Öztürk’s lawyers say her academic work has been interrupted because her student immigration record was terminated in a federal database.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement maintains the Student and Exchange Visa Information System, or SEVIS. It’s used to monitor whether foreign students are complying with the requirement to maintain a “full course of study” as part of their F-1 student visas, according to court documents.

Without that record, her lawyers argued, Öztürk will lose the opportunity during her graduate studies at Tufts University to obtain relevant work experience. That includes a paid position as a research assistant to study children’s engagement, Öztürk’s lawyers said in court documents filed in October.

Adriana Lafaille, an attorney with the ACLU of Massachusetts, said Öztürk's inability to work has had a “daily impact” on her life.

“We are running out of time to make this right,” Lafaille told Chief District Judge Denise Casper. “She is in the last year of her graduate studies, and each day that goes by is a day that she is being prevented from doing the work that she loves.”

Casper, a President Obama appointee, did not rule from the bench Thursday afternoon after an hour-long hearing. She also did not say when she would have a decision, but said she understood “time is of the essence.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously said Öztürk’s visa was revoked because of her criticism of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Öztürk co-authored an op-ed for the student newspaper about Tufts' response to the student government’s resolutions regarding Israel’s war in Gaza.

“For the first time, as a scholar, as a woman, I’ve been denied my education. Because of this, I couldn’t contribute to a children’s podcast project or teach at my university,” Öztürk told reporters outside the courthouse Thursday.

Öztürk’s lawyers argued there was no reason for officials to terminate her student immigration record and that doing so violated federal regulations and law.

Öztürk’s lawyers said the termination of her SEVIS record was retaliation for protected free speech.

“In nearly seven months of litigation, the government has not disputed the clear causal connection between Ms. Öztürk’s speech and its retaliatory conduct,” her lawyers said.

But government attorneys argued in court documents that ICE had a “rational basis” for terminating Öztürk’s SEVIS record, because the Department of State revoked her student visa in March, and ICE started deportation proceedings.

Federal lawyers also said the federal court in Massachusetts lacked jurisdiction to review ICE’s termination of Öztürk’s SEVIS record because the record was terminated as part of removal proceedings.

Government lawyers argued Öztürk can request ICE reinstate her SEVIS record by raising her claims during the “administrative removal process” and ultimately, in an appeals court.

But Öztürk’s lawyers said reactivating Öztürk’s SEVIS record would “not interfere with the removal proceedings against her or with any legitimate government or public interest.”

Government lawyers, however, also argued that the Privacy Act of 1974 — a federal law that governs how agencies disclose, maintain, and use personal information — bars Öztürk from attempting to reinstate her SEVIS record because she is a foreign national.

In addition, the government lawyers said, a federal judge should not force ICE to undo the SEVIS termination because the agency “had a rational reason for its action.”

“Here, ICE terminated Plaintiff’s SEVIS record as the visa had been revoked effective immediately. Such termination reflected that Plaintiff was no longer lawfully present in the United States on a non-immigrant student visa and that she was subject to removal proceedings,” the government lawyers said.