An immigration judge terminated removal proceedings against Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, who was detained for over a month last year as part of the Trump administration’s effort to target and deport international students and activists involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy, her lawyers said Monday.

The Department of Homeland Security hadn’t met its burden to prove Öztürk’s removability, prompting the immigration court to end removal proceedings against her, according to a letter from her attorneys submitted in court and a federal appeals court docket.

The move comes after recently unsealed court documents showed the federal government didn’t have any evidence that Öztürk had been supporting terrorist activity when she was arrested, and that her visa revocation and arrest were because of an opinion article she wrote containing criticisms of Israel.

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Öztürk was detained outside her home in March 2025 as the administration sought to deport her after revoking her student visa.

Chilling video of the PhD student’s arrest showed a swarm of officers encircling her near her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, as she shrieked in fear, sparking national outrage.

That same month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that the Trump administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

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Öztürk’s arrest came a year after she co-authored a campus newspaper op-ed that was critical of Tufts University’s response to the war in Gaza, and her attorneys have said that she was targeted by the administration in an attempt to chill pro-Palestinian speech in violation of her constitutional rights.

The PhD student, originally from Turkey and on a valid F-1 student visa, was shuttled through multiple states following her arrest and suffered a series of asthma attacks without adequate medical care, according to her attorneys.

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A federal judge ruled in December that Öztürk could resume research and teaching while she addresses the consequences of her visa revocation.

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