Trump administration fires Boston immigration judge who issued ruling in Öztürk case

The Trump administration has fired a Boston immigration judge who ruled the government had no grounds to deport Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University doctoral student arrested in Somerville by masked immigration agents last year.

Roopal Patel was terminated Friday, according to the New York Times. Her dismissal is one of the latest judge firings among dozens of others as the federal government moves to transform the nation's immigration courts.

WBUR has not yet independently confirmed her removal from the bench with the federal government. A U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson with the Executive Office for Immigration Review did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

However, Patel's name no longer appears on the Department of Justice's website detailing judges assigned to Boston's immigration court. The National Association of Immigration Judges also confirmed she was removed Friday.

In January, Patel ruled that Secretary of State Marco Rubio's revocation of Özturk's visa did not require her removal. Özturk, a Turkish national, was targeted by the administration for co-authoring an op-ed that criticized her university's response to Israel's war in Gaza. The Department of Homeland Security is appealing the judge's decision.

Patel was originally appointed to the bench under President Joe Biden.

The Times reported she was fired alongside five other immigration judges, including Judge Nina Froes of the immigration court in Chelmsford.

In February, Froes blocked the deportation of Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student detained in the wake of campus protests against the war in Gaza.

Patel and Froes were serving within a two-year probationary period. As immigration judges under the Department of Justice, they were fired by the attorney general.

Their dismissals come on the heels of more than 100 similar terminations by the federal government since President Trump returned to office last year.

According to the National Association of Immigration Judges, at least 113 judges of about 750 total in the U.S. were fired by the Trump administration since last January, with roughly another 100 quitting or retiring in that period. The association said the Department of Justice hired new judges, bringing the total number of judges handling the flood of immigration cases to around 600.

In Chelmsford alone, the 19 judges listed in January of 2025 have dwindled to just eight, including five immigration judges, two temporary judges and an assistant chief judge.

In Boston's immigration court, the number of judges dropped from seven to five in that same period.