http://twitchy.com/brettt/2026/04/18/university-graduate-returning-to-turkey-citing-hostility-in-the-us-n2427265
Newsweek reported on Thursday that a student from Bangladesh had wisely chosen to self-deport after enduring "inhumane" conditions in ICE detention. Joytu Chowdhury, a 24-year-old former student at Illinois Wesleyan University, alleged "inconsistent access to drinking water, saying detainees sometimes had to wait extended periods for necessities. He also described food as repetitive and lacking nutritional value and said overcrowded, noisy conditions made it difficult to sleep, with lights often left on and little sense of privacy." Sounds like self-deportation was the way to go.
Oh, and his criminal record. "In August 2025, his student visa status was terminated. Chowdhury's criminal history includes convictions for driving under the influence and retail theft," a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Newsweek.
Now we have more good news. WHDH in Boston is reporting that a Tufts University graduate is self-deporting to Turkey, citing "hostility" she has experienced in the United States.
7News Boston WHDH (@7News) ~ LATEST: A Tufts University graduate who was detained by ICE in Somerville last year said Friday that she is returning to Turkey, citing "hostility" she has experienced in the United States.
http://whdh.com/news/tufts-university-graduate-detained-by-ice-in-somerville-last-year-returning-to-turkey/
WHDH reports, with the help of the ACLU:
Rümeysa Öztürk completed her PHD program at the university in February, and now she has left the country to live in Turkey.
“The time stolen from me by the U.S. government belongs not just to me, but to the children and youth I have dedicated my life to advocating for,” Öztürk said in a statement. “With them in mind, I am choosing to return home as planned to continue my career as a woman scholar without losing more time to the state-imposed violence and hostility I have experienced in the United States.”
Öztürk’s move comes a year after a widely-viewed video surfaced that captured masked ICE agents arresting her on a street in Somerville on March 25, 2025 — in the midst of the war between Israel and Hamas. Her attorneys said she was taken into custody for writing an op-ed in the Tufts student paper that advocated for Palestinian rights.
Yeah, we're sure an op-ed in a student newspaper got her taken into custody. Fox News' Bill Melugin adds:
Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) ~ NEW: Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was arrested by ICE last year, has chosen to return to Turkey, according to the ACLU.
"I am choosing to return home as planned to continue my career as a woman scholar without losing more time to the state imposed violence and hostility I have experienced in the United States - all for nothing more than co-signing an op-ed advocating for Palestinian rights," she is quoted in an ACLU release.
Rumeysa Ozturk has absolutely no right to be here. Foreign citizens residing here in the U.S., even temporarily, is a privilege that was generously granted to her for academic purposes. She has openly demonstrated her venomous hostility towards the U.S. and the American People, so it is definitely time for her to go home to Turkey where her personal hatreds will be welcomed.
Bob Maistros (@BobMaistros) ~ 1. This woman didn't just write an op-ed. She self-identified as a member of Graduate Students for Palestine, a radical pro-Hamas group whose members, for example, signed the statement from Harvard students directly after Oct 7 blaming the murders on Israel.
Bob Maistros (@BobMaistros) ~ 2. A student who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization” is “ineligible to receive [a] visa" and visas are subject to immediate revocation.
Jack Spitz (@JackSpitz5) ~ {Replying to @7News} She finished her PhD. Now, she's going home. Is there a story worthy of the news here, because I can't find it.
It's just leftist propaganda.
Oscar Hancock (@OscarHancock15_) ~ {Replying to @7News} This is great news!!! Thankfully, we won’t have to hear about her anymore.
@MaryLucie (@MaryLucie_ML) ~ {Replying to @7News} Great! I am sure Turkey is a better fit for her ideology.
ThinkingItThrough (@Thinkingitthou) ~ {Replying to @7News}
Anthony A. (@americafirst_a1) ~ {Replying to @7News} I can only hope the millions of others like her feel the same hostility.
Yep ...
Beijing Biden (@BeijingBiden9) ~ {Replying to @7News}
Dennis Wayne (@DennisWayne79) ~ {Replying to @7News} Good riddance, terrorist.
AmusingMantis (@Justin23488139) ~ {Replying to @7News} Good. We have enough anti-American agitators as it is. 👌👋
Marcus Mendoza (@MendozaVictor50) ~ {Replying to @7News} Good news. 👍🏼 We don’t want any more hateful hijabis in the USA. Odious Ozturk can go infest Istanbul with her Islamic ideology.
Cooter Duke III (@CooterDukeIII) ~ {Replying to @7News}
She came to the United States, earned her PhD, and chose to self-deport to where she can practice her brand of Islamo-Marxism without government hostility.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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