Rümeysa Öztürk Deportation Proceedings Terminated

Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at February 10, 2026

The following statement can be attributed to Chip Gibbons, Policy Director of Defending Rights & Dissent, in response to news that deportation proceedings against Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk have been terminated:

“The Trump administration arrested, detained, and attempted to deport Rümeysa Öztürk all because she co-wrote an op-ed in her school’s newspaper about why Tufts should support student demands to support Palestinian human rights. The Trump administration continues to smear her as a terrorist, but her only “crime” was using the First Amendment.

We are glad her deportation proceedings have been terminated — the latest rebuke to Trump’s McCarthyite deportation drive.”

Defending Rights & Dissent

Defending Rights & Dissent is guided by the Bill of Rights, which was adopted to limit the power of the state over individuals and to preserve basic human and individual rights for every person under U.S. jurisdiction or control, even in times of war or other national crises, and regardless of who holds elected power. In 2015, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the Defending Dissent Foundation agreed to merge to place both organizations and their respective supporters in an even stronger position to help restore constitutional rights eroded by executive agencies.

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