BOSTON — A federal judge in Boston has ordered the U.S. government to reinstate the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) record of Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, who is studying child studies and human development, ruling that its termination in March caused “irreparable” harm to her academic progress and employment opportunities.
U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper granted a preliminary injunction Monday directing federal officials to restore the record retroactive to March 25, the day Immigration and Customs Enforcement revoked her visa and arrested her in Somerville. A terminated SEVIS record strips noncitizen students of work authorization, blocks re-entry to the United States, and can result in the government being allowed to begin counting the days a person remains in the country as “unlawful presence,” which can lead to additional re-entry bans, according to Tuftsdaily.com.
Casper wrote that Öztürk’s inability to work on paid research projects or participate fully in critical elements of her doctoral training amounted to “irreparable” harm, the “harm” necessary for a court to grant a preliminary injunction.
Casper concluded that the government’s actions likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that officials failed to provide a coherent legal basis for terminating the SEVIS record. She also ruled that an internal ICE message issued after the termination could not retroactively justify the decision.
Casper noted that the Department of Homeland Security has traditionally treated the termination of a SEVIS record the same as ending an F-1 visa. Yet she said the government simultaneously claimed Öztürk’s F-1 status remained intact while imposing consequences that contradicted that position.
“If Öztürk remains in F-1 status, as the government contends, it is all the more irrational that the government has imposed negative consequences on her that are inconsistent with that status,” Casper wrote.
Tufts spokesperson Patrick Collins said the university is in contact with Öztürk’s attorneys and is monitoring SEVIS to ensure her record is restored.
In a statement released through the ACLU of Massachusetts, Öztürk said her SEVIS record was “unlawfully canceled” after she co-authored an op-ed and reflected on her arrest and 45-day detention in Louisiana.
“My student SEVIS record was unlawfully canceled by the government for co-authoring an op-ed in which I advocated for equal dignity and humanity for all — and after eight long months, that record will now finally be restored,” Öztürk said in the press release. “Going through this brutality, which began with my unlawful arrest and 45 days of detention at a shameful for-profit ICE prison in Louisiana, I feel more connected to everyone whose educational rights are being denied — especially in Gaza, where countless scholars have been murdered and every university has been intentionally destroyed.”
Öztürk said she remained grateful for the ruling but acknowledged the academic setbacks she has endured.
“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,” Öztürk said. “Nonetheless, this decision gives me hope, and I earnestly hope that no one else experiences the injustices I have suffered.”
