Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts student detained by masked U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in March, can resume teaching and working as part of her doctoral program, a federal judge ordered Monday.
Judge Denise J. Casper, chief judge of the District of Massachusetts, issued a preliminary injunction in Öztürk’s case, requiring the government to restore Öztürk’s status in the SEVIS database, the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System that controls whether foreign students may legally work in the United States. Casper found Öztürk’s termination in the database was likely arbitrary and capricious.
Öztürk was removed from the system some eight months ago after co-authoring an op-ed in the Tufts student daily.
“While I am grateful for the court’s decision, I still feel a great deal of grief for all the educational rights I have been arbitrarily denied as a scholar and a woman in my final year of doctoral studies. Nonetheless, this decision gives me hope, and I earnestly hope that no one else experiences the injustices I have suffered,” Öztürk said in a statement.
Casper’s decision came quickly — four days — after a hearing on Dec. 4. But it also came eight months after Öztürk was grabbed by ICE officers in broad daylight; seven months after she was ordered released by Judge William K. Sessions in Vermont; six-and-a-half months after she sought a preliminary injunction from Sessions to restore her SEVIS record; and seven weeks after she re-filed for the same relief in Massachusetts.
Öztürk’s litigation has been split across multiple courts. Although her lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition — assigned to Casper — in Massachusetts the night of her arrest, it was transferred to Vermont because federal agents had moved her across New Hampshire and into Vermont by the time it was filed. Vermont retained jurisdiction even though Öztürk was subsequently held in Louisiana, but the Vermont judge decided the SEVIS issues were not sufficiently related to her custody issues and transferred them back to Massachusetts in August. The government appeal of her transfer and release from Louisiana is pending in New York, where the Second Circuit Court of Appeals sits.
Although Öztürk’s lawyers argued that the termination of her SEVIS record was a retaliatory violation of her First Amendment rights, Casper did not address the issue, because, she said, of her “conclusion that Öztürk is likely to succeed on her APA [(Administrative Procedure Act)] claim.”
Under the federal Administrative Procedure Act, courts have the power to “set aside” agency action that is arbitrary or capricious, or otherwise contrary to law. The government terminated Öztürk’s F-1 student visa four days before arresting her, but the judge quoted federal regulations in noting that a visa is not required to legally remain in the country: “An F-1 student may remain in the country for their ‘[d]uration of status,’ i.e., as relevant here, ‘the time during which an F-1 student is pursuing’ a full course of study at an [approved] educational institution.”
Assistant United States Attorney Mark Sauter argued to Casper last week that ICE had the discretion to label Öztürk however it wished in the SEVIS database.
But Casper disagreed, saying “the government’s suggestion at oral argument that [the law] provides ICE discretion to terminate a SEVIS record in these circumstances is unpersuasive, as it lacks ‘any externally imposed limiting principle.’”
Casper also said ICE’s policy change in April allowing SEVIS terminations following visa revocations was an attempt after-the-fact to justify its initial action. She found the government’s actions to be arbitrary and capricious under the APA and also that Öztürk had suffered irreparable harm by losing her paid on-campus employment and to opportunities to pursue her academic and professional development.
In addition to ordering Öztürk’s SEVIS status restored, Casper also ordered that should ICE wish to revoke it again, it must do so in accordance with the law and must provide Öztürk and her attorneys with one week’s advance notice as well as an opportunity to be heard.
The government has sixty days to appeal Casper’s preliminary injunction.
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This is wonderful news. Yet it is awful that she had to experience all that time in detention and not able to work. I hope this ruling helps other across the US who have been similarly attacked by our government.
I’m also glad 7 of 9 Allston Car Wash detainees are out- and what a terrible experience they’ve had: https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-12-09/allston-car-wash-workers-speak-out-about-their-detention