Somerville, Massachusetts - An immigration judge on Monday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from deporting Tufts University PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk over her pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested and detained in March 2025 and held for over a month, as part of an attack on those opposing Israel's US-sponsored destruction of Gaza – declared genocidal by human rights organizations, legal experts, and scholars.

Nearly a year later, Immigration Judge Roopal Patel found that the Department of Homeland Security hadn't proved that Öztürk was supporting terrorist activity.

Documents released last month revealed that the Trump administration had no evidence whatsoever against Öztürk.

Lawyers representing Öztürk noted in a filing submitted on Monday that in January the court had found that the Trump administration had "punitively" detained her "in retaliation for her speech."

They noted, however, that the ruling does not offer a blanket protection against Öztürk's re-detention and warned that "she continues to suffer the threat of continuing 'now-or-never' First and Fifth Amendment harms."

"Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system's flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the US government," Öztürk said in a statement on Monday.

"Though the pain that I and thousands of other women wrongfully imprisoned by ICE have faced cannot be undone, it is heartening to know that some justice can prevail after all."