Rumeyssa Ozturb returned to Massachusetts on Saturday night, the eyes of joy and gratitude at the end of his six -week Odyssey in federal custody, a case that caused outrage on the immigration offensive of President Trump’s immigration.
A flight that transported Mrs. Ozturb, a Turkish citizen who studied at the University of Tufts with a student visa, landed at Boston Logan International Airport one day after a federal judge in Vermont ordered that he would immediately release a detention center in Louisiana.
Speaking in a room at the airport, he showed smiles and seemed happy and relaxed, but he also became emotional sometimes. Mrs. OzTurb thanked the followers for her kindness and expressed love for the country that imprisoned her and is still trying to deport her.
“The United States is the greatest democracy in the world,” he said, adding: “I have faith in the American justice system.”
Mrs. Ozturb, a fifth -year doctoral student, were among more than a thousand international students whose visas were canceled by the federal government and who have faced deportation. The movements occurred when the Trump administration intensified its attack on higher education, saying that its objective was to eliminate anti -Semitism.
Mrs. Ozturb had written an opinion article in the student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to pro-palestinian demands. Her supporters denied that she was anti -Semitic and said she was arrested in retaliation for her speech in violation of the first amendment.
On Saturday, his friends and former professors bounced between euphoria in their release and pain that Mrs. Ozturb, a Fulbright academic who specializes in children’s media and is known as a follower of scholarly rules, was stopped first.
Gulay Kaplan, who knows Mrs. Ozturb for a decade, led 11 hours to see her at the airport and was excited and emotional. When he finally saw her, he said that all he could do was cry.
Mrs. Kaplan said she was surprised by what Mrs. Ozturb had to endure, describing her friend as a girl and soft, and added: “He does not have the bone to hate anyone.” Mrs. Kaplan said she had already left her already her other scared friends. If this could happen to more. Ozturb said, “this could happen to any of us to say something.”
On Friday, Judge William K. Sessions III or the United States District Court for the Vermont district said that the arrest of Mrs. Ozturb would potentiate “the speech of the millions and millions of people in this country that are not citizens.” Judge Sessions, a designated or former President Clinton, also said that the government, who has been accused of EM. Ozturb to participate “in activities in support of Hamas”, had not introduced any evidence that is not the pro-palestinian opinion essay that Mrs. Ozturb was co-author.
A message that remains for the National Security Department was not returned immediately. In response to an earlier development in the case of Mrs. Ozturb this week, a spokeswoman said that “a visa is a privilege, not a right” and that the department “would continue to fight for the trial, detention and elimination of foreigners who have no right to be in this country.”
At the end of April, the Trump administration abruptly restored the capacity of thousands of international students to legally study in the country, he thought that his legal status could still be completed in the future. Despite that decision, Mrs. Ozturb had remained in custody until Friday.
“Rumeysa, my sister, our sister, we welcome you home with open arms,” said representative Ayanna Presley at the airport. He joined Senator Edward J. Markey to greet Mrs. Ozturb. “We never forget you. You are loved, you are seen, and we will not rest until you exonerate you completely, your visa is restored and you are free to continue your studies and your service to our community.”
The trial of Mrs. Ozturb in March was captured in surveillance images and caused the conviction of students, leaders and immigration defenders throughout the country. I was walking on a sidewalk on Somerville, Massachusetts, when it was surrounded by armed immigration agents and entered a van. She was taken to New Hampshire, and then Vermont, and then flew to a federal detention center in Louisiana.
While she was arrested, Mrs. Ozturb testified that she experienced increasingly severe asthma attacks, the first was on the plane to Louisiana. When he sought treatment, he said, the medical staff of the Detention Center responded with Pendency. She said she had been confined with another 23 women in a space for 14 people.
On Saturday, Mrs. Ozturb thanked the friends who helped her through experience. Some read books by phone and prayer many support letters. She said an advisor sent Mrs. Ozturb’s proposal to the detention center.
“So much love,” said Mrs. Ozturb.
Conern also expressed for those immigrants who are still retained in the facilities. “Please, don’t forget all wonderful women,” he said.
Reyyan Bilge, professor of psychology at Northeastern, knew Mrs. Ozturb when she was a student in Türkiye, and
He described an emotional roller coaster during the last six weeks, starting with his disbelief that the former student had arrested. She said Mrs. Ozturb was “one of the best students I have had.” Dr. Bilge followed each development in the case, logged in to each court hearing and received another shock, this time cheerful, at the Friday hearing.
“You listen to the words you have your leg waiting to listen for a long time,” he said in a telephone interview. “But at the same time, really because for Pinccarte. Is it real? Are they going to allow him to leave?”
The release of Mrs. Ozturb was delayed when the government tried to make it use ankle monitor, which led Judge Sessions to issue a second order on Friday to release without it.
Just although Mrs. Ozturb was released, a government lawyer said Friday that a deportation proceeded against her would continue in the Immigration Court. But its long -term perspective is believed to be more favorable for now that before the Federal Court released it, experts said.
Whatever comes next, and despite the experience of the last six weeks, Mrs. Ozturb seemed hopeful on Saturday.
“I still believe in the values we share,” he said.
