A federal judge in Boston ordered U.S. immigration authorities to restore Turkish national Rümeysa Öztürk’s record in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a database that schools and the federal government use to track F‑1 students and related work authorization. The ruling granted preliminary injunctive relief and was framed as preventing ongoing harm tied to the loss of on‑campus employment and doctoral training opportunities.

SEVIS status can have immediate, material consequences. When a student’s SEVIS record is terminated, the student may be blocked from paid campus roles that are often embedded in doctoral programs—teaching, research appointments, and other positions essential to training and funding. In the litigation over Öztürk’s record, the court’s order describes SEVIS as the “definitive record” for student status and visa eligibility and outlines how SEVIS interacts with school compliance requirements and immigration enforcement.

Reporting and court records situate the SEVIS dispute inside a broader controversy over the Trump administration’s campus‑related immigration enforcement. Reuters reported that Öztürk’s arrest in the Boston suburb of Somerville, Massachusetts—captured in widely circulated video—occurred after the State Department revoked her student visa, and that the only basis authorities provided for the visa revocation was an editorial she co‑authored in Tufts’ student newspaper the year before, criticizing the university’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Öztürk was detained in Louisiana for 45 days before a federal judge in Vermont ordered her released, after finding she raised a substantial claim that her detention amounted to unlawful retaliation that violated her free‑speech rights under the First Amendment, according to Reuters. After her release, she resumed her studies at Tufts, but she could not work in positions connected to her program as long as her SEVIS record remained terminated.

In issuing the injunction, Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper concluded that Öztürk was likely to succeed in proving that ICE unlawfully terminated her SEVIS record, and Reuters reported the court cited “shifting justifications” from the government about why her record was terminated. The court order itself contains a detailed discussion of the regulatory structure governing F‑1 status and SEVIS termination, and it addresses the practical harms stemming from the loss of SEVIS‑linked work authorization.

Rights and due‑process concerns in this case center on notice, transparency, and whether immigration tools are being used to penalize or deter protected expression. While the case’s ultimate merits remain in litigation, the court’s willingness to order interim relief reflects a recognition that certain immigration status actions can cause immediate harms—especially in academic settings where work is tied to enrollment and progress. Reuters reported that the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment at the time of the ruling.

What happens next may include appeals and continued litigation over the underlying legality of the government’s actions. In the near term, the order restores Öztürk’s database status in a way that allows her to resume campus work and professional activities tied to her doctoral program while the case proceeds.