<p>Turkish Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was held in ICE detention last year after her visa was revoked over alleged &#8220;activities in support of Hamas,&#8221; has returned home to Turkey following a legal settlement with the United States.</p>
<p>The State Department canceled Ozturk&#8217;s student visa after she co-authored an op-ed in her college newspaper calling on Tufts to recognize the “Palestinian genocide” and to divest from companies with ties to Israel.</p>
<p>In March 2025, ICE agents arrested Ozturk while walking on a street in Somerville, Massachusetts. She spent six weeks in federal custody before a judge ordered her release.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">WATCH 🔴</p>
<p>Federal agents have arrested Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk for her role in leading anti-Semitic, anti-Israel protests on her university campus. <a href="https://t.co/WsU1VraUfK">pic.twitter.com/WsU1VraUfK</a></p>
<p>— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) <a href="https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/1904951208432841138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p>The government appealed the decision, but the case ultimately ended in a settlement after Ozturk completed her PhD in child study and human development.</p>
<p>Under the agreement, Ozturk returned to Turkey &#8220;without further interference by the Department of Homeland Security,&#8221; according to the ACLU.</p>
<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; <a href="https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/after-earning-ph-d-rumeysa-ozturk-chooses-her-next-chapter">she said in a statement released by the ACLU.</a> &#8220;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.&#8221;</p>
<p class="font-text text-lg leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]" data-v-a500cf4d="">The resolution is welcome news to the Trump administration, which has taken a more aggressive approach toward foreign students involved in anti-Israel activism.</p>
<p class="font-text text-lg leading-[1.6] mt-5 md:mt-[1.875rem]" data-v-a500cf4d="">“Attending elite colleges and universities in the United States is a privilege afforded to foreign students who respect our values and follow our laws,” a Justice Department official <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/17/rumeysa-ozturk-deportation-case-00878694?utm_medium=bluesky&amp;utm_source=dlvr.it">said in a statement to Politico.</a> “We will continue to seek the deportation of any foreign student who abuses their opportunity to study in America by engaging in vile antisemitism, harassment, or other illegal behavior.”</p>
<p data-v-a500cf4d="">Ozturk&#8217;s detention became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump&#8217;s immigration enforcement efforts and emphasis on stopping antisemitism on college campuses.</p>
<p data-v-a500cf4d="">Esha Bhandari, director of the ACLU&#8217;s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, accused the government of violating the Constitution.</p>
<p data-v-a500cf4d="">“Rumeysa should never have been detained for expressing her opinions in a country that is supposed to protect freedom of speech,” Bhandari said.</p>
<p>As of early 2026, the State Department has revoked more than 100,000 visas, <a href="https://x.com/StateDept/status/2010740549469557010?s=20">including roughly 8,000 student visas. </a></p>
<p>In a separate case, Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian green card holder who led anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, recently lost a bid to have his deportation case thrown out.</p>
<p>“The bottom line is if you come here to stir up trouble on our campuses, we will deny you a visa,” Secretary of State <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-faces-off-with-democratic-senator-during-heated-confrontation">Marco Rubio said last year.</a> “These kids pay money to go to school, and they have to walk through a bunch of lunatics who are here on student visas.”</p>

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She Wrote An Anti-Israel Op-Ed. Trump Moved On Her Visa.