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A federal judge had ordered the government to immediately release Rumeysa Ozturk, who was being held in a federal facility in Louisiana.
May 10, 2025Updated 8:29 p.m. ET
Rumeysa Ozturk’s plane touched down in Boston on Saturday evening, ending a six-week odyssey for the student in federal custody that stirred outrage over President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Her return to Massachusetts, where she was arrested in March, came one day after a federal judge in Vermont ordered that she be immediately released from a detention facility in Louisiana.
After arriving at Boston Logan International Airport, Ms. Ozturk walked into a room with a big smile on her face, and was joined by her lawyers and Massachusetts lawmakers, including Senator Edward J. Markey and Representative Ayanna Pressley.
Ms. Ozturk became visibly emotional as lawmakers spoke about her ordeal. Her case “affects every one of us,” Mr. Markey said. “Freedom of speech and the right of due process are not suggestions.”
Ms. Ozturk, a Turkish citizen studying at Tufts University on a student visa, was among more than a thousand international students whose visas were canceled by the federal government and who have faced deportation. The moves came as the Trump administration escalated its attack on higher education, saying its goal was to root out antisemitism.
Ms. Ozturk had written an opinion piece in the student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to pro-Palestinian demands. Her supporters denied that she was antisemitic, and said that she was detained in retaliation for her speech in violation of the First Amendment.
