Federal judge reinstates Öztürk’s online record so she can resume work at Tufts University

A federal judge in Boston on Monday ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to restore Turkish national Rümeysa Öztürk's record in a critical online database used to clear student visa holders for work in the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper granted Öztürk's request for a preliminary injunction, stating she had faced "irreparable harm," including the loss of paid on-campus employment, professional development and doctoral training.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement maintains the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. It monitors whether students like Öztürk are compliant with a “full course of study” requirement as part of their F-1 student visas.

Öztürk's attorneys asked a federal judge to have the government restore her SEVIS record so that she can resume teaching and working as part of her doctoral studies at Tufts University.

She was arrested in March by masked immigration agents, a year after she co-authored an op-ed for the student newspaper about Tufts' response to the student government’s resolutions regarding Israel’s war in Gaza.

Following her arrest, ICE transported Öztürk to Louisiana. Her SEVIS record was also deleted soon after her arrest.

A Vermont federal judge ordered Öztürk's release in May, after six weeks of detention. Since then, she's been unable to work because of the deleted SEVIS record.

One of her lawyers with the ACLU of Massachusetts said during a hearing last week that Öztürk's inability to work had a “daily impact” on her life.